Spectator hospitalised after collision with loose horse at Gatcombe
An eventing fan was taken to hospital at the weekend after being hit by a loose horse at The Festival of British Eventing.
The visitor was at Gatcombe Park, Glos, on Sunday (9 August) when the accident happened during the CIC3* competition.
“A spectator was transferred to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for further assessment and monitoring, after unfortunately being knocked down by a loose horse during the cross-country phase of the event,” a spokesman for the event told H&H.
“The horse fell during the final stages of the cross-country and continued without the rider.”
The horse was 2014 Badminton winner Paulank Brockagh, ridden by Sam Griffiths (not pictured). One bystander described it as a “horrible incident”.
The Australian rider and the 12-year-old mare were both unhurt in the fall.
“The British Open Championships was so nearly ours but then poor Brocks had her first cross-country fault of her career and we both ate dirt,” Sam wrote on his website.
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“Luckily we’re both ok. Just so gutted.”
No further details are available about the spectator at present, though reports suggest the woman fractured a collarbone and some ribs.
Sam told H&H: “I have been liaising with the organisers at The Festival who are in touch with the injured spectator and I wish her a very speedy recovery.”
This is the second incident in as many months.
In July a 10-year-old girl injured her ankle when struck by a loose horse at Barbury Horse Trials.
The child was watching the CIC2* cross-country when Jeanette Brakewell was unseated at the water.
Lets Dance then ran loose, jumped the string and collided with the girl who was sitting on the ground.
She had a lucky escape and suffered bad bruising.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.