Ian Stark injured in fall from young horse
Ian Stark has suffered some injuries in a fall at home.
The accident happened on Sunday, 24 April when a young horse fell over backwards with him.
“I’ve broken a bone in my foot and the L1 vertebrae,” he said. “I had internal bleeding, I was concussed and had double vision, but that’s nearly gone now.”
Ian will be commentating for the BBC at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials this weekend and has been using crutches and a disabled buggy to get around the site.
The Scot triumphed at Badminton three times — in 1986 and 1988 on Sir Wattie and 1999 on Jaybee. He won three team silver medals at the Olympics and one individual medal of the same colour at the 1998 Games. He also collected five world and nine European medals, including individual European gold in 1991 at Punchestown riding Glenburnie.
Badminton final scores
He last competed internationally with Looks Similar, with whom he finished 10th at Saumur in 2010, and he rode in some national classes last year.
Since retiring from serious competitive riding, Ian has combined many interests including commentating and cross-country course-designing. He was responsible for his first championship track last year when he designed the test for the Europeans at Blair Castle in Perthshire.
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Ian walked the Badminton course for H&H’s magazine and online video preview this year. He gained his private pilot’s licence in 2001 and flew himself down to the estate to do the job.
Follow all H&H’s Badminton coverage online, including H&H Live up-to-the-minute written commentary, regular news stories and blogs from first-timers Alice Dunsdon and Simon Grieve.
Buy this week’s H&H (5 May) for a 16-page Badminton pull-out including a form guide for every entry, plus map of the cross-country course. Next week’s magazine (12 May) will include our full 24-page report from the event, including columns from Carl Hester, William Fox-Pitt and Mark Phillips.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.