Australian trainer fractures back after being thrown by a horse

An Australian racehorse trainer has fractured his back after falling from a young horse.

Jason Clifford was working a young horse on a beach in New South Wales on Monday 20 July when the horse bolted towards some nearby pine trees.

The horse veered between two trees before bucking, throwing Mr Clifford.

The trainer, who is based at Seven Mile Beach, landed on his shoulder blades and head, fractured his second thoracic (T2) vertebra. He was released from hospital on 23 July and is now recovering at home.

“I knew something was wrong when I heard this cracking noise, and almost immediately had pins and needles,” Mr Clifford told local press.

“When the ambulance people arrived, one of them said that I was blessed because I landed close to trees that had been cut down to stumps, and if I had of landed on one of those it would have been a different story.”

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