To come a cropper

To experience a serious misfortune and dates from the mid-19th century when it was first used to describe a heavy fall from a horse. It derives from the earlier expression neck and crop, which is from the late 18th century and described a catastrophic fall from a horse where the rider flies over the horse’s neck and throat, crop being an old, archaic world for throat and has nothing to do with crop, as in a riding crop or whip.