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Sigh. I give up trying to convince you. No, all he would need is a lacerating blow to get the process started.

He fell on a flat surface. Well, I know more than you do about collagen defects, it seems. In fact I have a very mild form myself.

That's avoiding the question I asked, which was, "Which collagen disorder are you speaking of?"

BTW, if you have OI, my condolences. My neice has that and it's a living hell.

And I'm not even getting to the other parts of the body that become more prone to injury and/or rupture. It isn't limited to skin.

In the case of this particular tall tale, it would be.

He fell on a flat surface

The account says he fell FROM a flat surface. It was not specified as to what the surface was that he fell on. Perhaps he fell on a sharp object that cut him open. The fall, plus the forward velocity from the mule, could have caused him to "split open". Sounds plausible to me, but I always understand these stories as anecdotal anyways, and don't take them too seriously, I just sit back and enjoy them.