Lord of the Rings stunt double and actor Kiran Shah–who was the scale and stunt double for all five Hobbits in the original series–has shed some new light on some of the injuries he sustained while making the movies.

Shah told Metro UK that one of his injuries was extremely serious. For a pivotal battle scene in Return of the King, Shah broke his back after falling off a horse.

“I broke my back on Lord of the Rings,” he said. “In the last big fight in Return of the King, I was riding in front of Pippin, riding the horse, fighting the big [Oliphant] and slashing it with both hands and Pippin is controlling the horse. The first run we did, he bolted. He took one big step and I took off completely…I couldn’t even kick off the horse. I couldn’t turn on my back, and I landed …