Experienced eventer dies after fall at Beckwithshaw
Event rider Robin Donaldson has died from injuries sustained in a fall at Beckwithshaw Horse Trials (21-22 August).
The experienced 64-year-old rider, from Little Ribston near Wetherby, was taking part in the BE100 class when his mare Matilda Cruz straddled a cross-country fence and Mr Donaldson fell over her neck, landing awkwardly on his head.
Mr Donaldson broke two vertebrae in his neck and was in a critical condition in Leeds General Infirmary for three weeks before he died.
His sister, Liz Kettle, told H&H that the retired schoolteacher had competed at Burghley in the 1980s.
Since retirement the lifelong eventer “lived for his horses” and had two nice youngsters he was bringing on, said Ms Kettle.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.