While appearing on The Howard Stern Show in March 2026, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder recalled his friendship with Bruce Springsteen. Vedder played a bit of Springsteen’s “My City of Ruins” during the radio appearance, which he performed in 2009 when Springsteen was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors. But the highlight was a story about a “terrifying” experience he had with the legendary artist.
“I’ve known Bruce pretty good for quite some time,” Vedder began. “All I can say is everything you’ve imagined him to be, you’re not even halfway there. Just as a person, as an artist, as a friend.”
Stern then asked if it was true that Vedder once went horseback riding with Springsteen, to which Vedder responded, “I’m terrified of horses.”
He added, “That ride with Bruce did not help anything at all.” With laughter filling the studio, Vedder continued, taking on an imitation of Springsteen. “He says, ‘Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re gonna get on the horse. The horse is gonna walk. You’re gonna get off the horse. That’s what’s gonna happen.’”
Even With Bruce Springsteen’s Reassurances, Eddie Vedder Was Terrified While Horseback Riding
Bruce Springsteen seemingly reassured Eddie Vedder that riding a horse wouldn’t be that crazy. No need to panic, easy peasy. Vedder wasn’t convinced, but recalled that he pretended otherwise.
“I was trying to act not terrified,” he said. “I was like, ‘I got this, I got it … Don’t let the shark know you’re scared.’ But then, for whatever reason, my horse just took off. And I’m kind of headed off the trail into this forest of trees. I don’t know what is happening, and I’m just trying to, like, surf.
“What I remember is, like, surfing the horse,” he added. “And looking, where am I gonna jump? Where am I gonna jump? And everybody’s helping, yelling stuff like, ‘Pull right, pull left,’ and I can’t see a clear space to jump.”
Eventually, Vedder said, the horse stopped. But the sudden outburst of speed from that horse apparently “mystified” everyone. “Patti [Scialfa] was like, ‘That’s very odd, he might be barn sour.’”
Eddie Vedder offered no explanation for “barn sour,” so maybe he never got one at the time either. But he did add, “And damn it, if the horse didn’t do it again.”
When it was all said and done, Bruce Springsteen even praised Vedder for how he handled the bolting horse. “In the end, Bruce said that was pretty good horsemanship that I didn’t crack my head.”
It’s up for debate if hanging on for dear life and somehow avoiding injury can really be considered “good horsemanship.” But sometimes the best you can do on a bolting horse is just hope your luck doesn’t run out right then.
Photo by Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images
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