Event rider breaks back in rotational fall

Former British junior team eventer Hayley Rose, 29, is recovering in hospital, after suffering multiple injuries — including a broken back — in a fall at Rockingham Horse Trials (17-19 May).

Hayley (pictured riding Ardcavan Cavalier at Aston-le-Walls) was having her first run of the season in a novice section on 17 May. Her mount, an 11-year-old gelding called Eden, had a rotational fall at fence 11 on the cross-country course and rolled on her. She was airlifted to hospital in Coventry.

Hayley suffered five broken ribs, three fractures to her pelvis and cracked a verterbra in her lower back. Eden was not injured.

Surgeons operated on 21 May to put a plate and screws in her pelvis and insert a chest drain.

Hayley tweeted to friends that she was “doing well”.

“Definitely feeling better after my operation,” she tweeted yesterday (22 May). “Just got to keep looking forwards. The hospital has been amazing.”

In a statement, British Eventing (BE) confirmed that Hayley was “in good spirits and… recovering in hospital”.

Hayley rode for the British junior team at the 2003 European Championships in Germany. She finished best of the Brits — in sixth position — on Killmallock Dandy.

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