‘I’m lucky to be alive’: kicked owner makes hard hat plea
A rider who needed 18 stitches after she was kicked in the head is urging people to wear hard hats when handling horses on the ground.
Lisa Supple was knocked unconscious in the accident last winter.
She was in a hurry to turn her horses out and “didn’t even see” the hoof coming towards her.
“I have had him eight years — it wasn’t aimed at me, it was just high jinks,” Lisa told H&H. “He is my horse of a lifetime and he doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body.”
When she came round, she was able to crawl back to the house and luckily her husband was at home.
The cut on her forehead went down to the bone and needed 18 stitches.
“They said if it was any less than a finger-width closer to my temple, I would have been dead,” she said.
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“I didn’t have any major repercussions, I am very lucky in the grand scheme of things that I was relatively unscathed.”
Lisa added that the reality of what could have happened hit her as she was sitting with her one-year-old baby later that evening.
“If you love someone or if you have someone who loves you, the least you can do is look after yourself,” she added.
A year on from the accident, she is renewing her call for people to wear hats around horses on the ground, particularly as for many, turnout will be more restricted going into winter.
“Please excuse the horrid picture, but sometimes the shock tactic is what it takes,” she posted on Facebook.
“Another annual plea from me to make sure all you lovely peeps out there who deal with horses to make sure you wear your hats whilst turning out.
“The pic on the left was me last year, in hospital after being kicked in the head whilst turning out my boys.
Related articles:
- Event rider ‘lucky to still be here’ after kick to the head
- Rider calls for hats to be worn at trot-ups
- Owner kicked in the head credits hat for saving her life
“With the horrible weather, reduced turnout and general gremlins of winter our horses can react differently to the norm, with catastrophic outcomes.
“I’m lucky to still be alive, and am glad I am as a mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend to all my loved ones. It takes seconds to pop a hat on and seconds to die…I know what my choice is, make sure yours is the same!”
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.