Injury solicitors recently won a personal injury compensation case on behalf of a Stoke-on-Trent female horse rider in the wake of an equestrian accident that left her with a broken neck.
According to Horse & Hound magazine, Mrs Maxine Wright had been taking horse riding lessons with her husband Phil in Newcastle-under-Lyme at the time of the incident. The Wrights had been attending Shut Lane Head’s Whitmore Riding School when Mrs Wright’s horse fell upon attempting to clear a jump, accident claim experts writing for the magazine reported.
Mrs Wright’s horse ‘Marmite’ clipped its rear legs on the top of a barrel as it was attempting a cross country jump. Unfortunately both the clipped barrel and those it was adjacent to were not properly weighted down, causing them to move forward with the horses impact and trigger a fall.
Mrs. Wright sustained serious personal injuries in the incident, which included breaks to two of her vertebrae at the top of her spine. As a a result the woman was hospitalised for nearly two weeks and was unable to return to work for a total of four months.
Stating that the riding school demonstrated a lack of awareness in regards to the potential risk, one legal representative of Mrs Wright added that the jump had been inherently dangerous. Her legal team negotiated a £60,000 personal injury compensation award for the injured woman in an out of court settlement after the insurers of the school made an admission of liability.
A spokesperson for British Eventing, the sports governing authority, also commented on the case, remarking that the importance of securing temporary or portable obstacles could not be stressed enough. The BE spokesperson also said that it offered training in course building and design as well.