Caitlyn Fischer
It has been a sad week in the sport of eventing with two lives claimed
British Eventing has confirmed the death of a rider competing at the Solihull Riding Club One Day Event on Saturday 13th July which follows the death of a rider during a training accident in the USA on Thursday July 11th
The British rider was 31year old Clare Bedford, from Rugby, Warwickshire, who was riding her horse, Olympic Jester, who was unharmed in the fall, in a Novice 100cm class at the unaffiliated Solihull Riding Club event.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm that Mrs Clare Bedford died as a result of a fall whilst competing, during the cross-country phase, at the Solihull Riding Club one day event on Saturday, July 13,” the club said in a statement.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) attended, with two ambulances, a paramedic officer, an emergency doctor and the air ambulance sent to the scene.
“On arrival, people at the scene were carrying out CPR on the woman. Ambulance staff took over but sadly it was not possible to save her and she was confirmed dead at the scene,” a WMAS spokesman said.
The American rider was 13-year-old Ashley Stout who died following a rotational fall at the Standing Ovation Equestrian Center (SOEC) in Halfmoon Township, Pennsylvania, USA
In an interview with The Centre Daily Times, SOEC owner Adam Armstrong said, “Stout was riding her horse, Avant Garde, about 9:20 a.m. when the two were involved in a rotational fall. The horse landed on top of Stout, broke [his] neck and was euthanised”
In Australia a Coronial Inquest is examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two teenage riders, Caitlyn Fischer and Olivia Inglis, who died in eventing accidents in 2016. The first two weeks of the inquest concluded in May and will recommence the week commencing 22 July 2019
