In a very scary moment at the Australian International 3 Day Event Heath Ryan took a tumble at the CCI2* water fence riding Aspire R. Heath has been around the sport for many years but admitted to us afterwards that this was one that had him thinking his time was up. For a few seconds Heath’s foot was lodged in the stirrup but thankfully became free before too much damage was done
You can see the full sequence of photos in our gallery here
Only a couple of days before we had chatted to Megan Jones about some of her training tips (articles on that coming up soon) and one of her essential pieces of equipment is a French stirrup called SoftUp Pro, a single branch riding stirrup. The flexible outside ABS branch guarantees release of the rider from the stirrup in the event of a fall. They certainly aren’t cheap at €249.00 but what price can you put on safety?
Many thanks to Heath for allowing us to show John Lechner's sequence of photos of his fall in our gallery and how the foot was caught in the stirrup – as he says
“Someone said to me afterwards that I was very unlucky to have that fall. Personally I think I’m very lucky that it all turned out okay”
Heath was in a good position in the Horseland CCI2* in Adelaide following the dressage phase, lying in fifth place on a score of 49.50. Here is the dressage master at work – always lovely to watch
