Sad to report that a horse rider in Denver was killed in a Fourth of July show in what was (from my view) a completely preventable accident.called the death drag strap, and she couldn't get out. The horse dragged her around the arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds three times before someone could get him to stop. If you're not familiar with Westernaires, this is a 40+ year-old
The rider, 18-year-old Katie Neilson, was a member of the trick team of the Jefferson county equestrian drill group Westernaires. Katie was preparing to do a trick called the stround when her horse stumbled and fell. Her leg was caught in a strap
9-18 year old kids. The biggest problem with this group is that they don't teach the kids how to ride; just how to hang on and ride as fast as they can. Their basic teaching principle in equitation is "toes in, heel down".training of this organization. Rumor has it that the horse Katie was riding was put down yesterday.
Those of us who have been watching this organization for the past ten years have been dreading this day - it was an accident waiting to happen.
In trick, the horse is supposedly trained to make one circle of the arena and then stop. In Katie's case, this didn't happen - the horse just kept on going.
The safety practices of this organization are almost non-existent - some of their teams (they have about 30) practice and perform riding double, triple and worse. Over the past 5 years, at least a dozen horses have been destroyed because of the poor
My daughter was a member of Westernaires for five years and got out when it became obvious that appearance was more important than safety. I'm sure anyone that reads this will share our sorrow over this accident - but if you've heard about it, don'tbelieve that it was a freak accident. The horse falling was; what happened after that wasn't.
Marianne
mgoodlan@du.edu (Marianne Goodland) writes:
] Sad to report that a horse rider in Denver was killed in a Fourth of
] July show in what was (from my view) a completely preventable
] accident.
]
] The rider, 18-year-old Katie Neilson, was a member of the trick team
] of the Jefferson county equestrian drill group Westernaires. Katie
] was preparing to do a trick called the stround when her horse stumbled
] and fell. Her leg was caught in a strap called the death drag strap,
] and she couldn't get out. The horse dragged her around the arena at
] the Jefferson County Fairgrounds three times before someone could get
] him to stop. If you're not familiar with Westernaires, this is a 40+
] year-old organization of 9-18 year old kids. The biggest problem with
] this group is that they don't teach the kids how to ride; just how to
] hang on and ride as fast as they can. Their basic teaching principle
] in equitation is "toes in, heel down". Those of us who have been
] watching this organization for the past ten years have been dreading
] this day - it was an accident waiting to happen. In trick, the horse
] is supposedly trained to make one circle of the arena and then stop.
] In Katie's case, this didn't happen - the horse just kept on going.
] The safety practices of this organization are almost non-existent -
] some of their teams (they have about 30) practice and perform riding
] double, triple and worse. Over the past 5 years, at least a dozen
] horses have been destroyed because of the poor training of this
] organization. Rumor has it that the horse Katie was riding was put
] down yesterday.
Isn't this the organization that was soliciting on the net a month
or so ago ? That group was mainly about Christian evangalism, not
about learning to ride, if I remember. It's easy to believe that such
a group would view the horses and riding as just a hook to get kids
into the program for indoctrination, which of course raises the
odds that safety will be ignored.
Factual correction welcome. Flames to alt.flame.
--
Dennis O'Connor doconnor@sedona.intel.com
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