List of horse accidents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of people and fictional characters who had severe injuries, or died from accidents related to horses. Some of the listed accidents had important political and historical consequences, which are given when relevant.
Celebrities
Holbrook Blinn (1872-1928), Broadway stage star & silent screen actor, died from injuries in an accident on the grounds of his estate.
Maureen Connolly (1934-1969), tennis star, career ended in 1954 by injuries suffered in a collision between her horse and a truck.
Malcolm Baldrige (1922 – 1987), American politician and United States Secretary of Commerce from 1981 until his death in 1987, from internal injuries sustained in a rodeo accident, when the horse he was riding fell on him during a calf-roping competition.
Roy Kinnear (1934-1988), British character actor, bled to death due to a broken pelvis sustained in a fall from a horse.
Cole Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) American composer and songwriter. In a 1937 riding accident his legs were crushed leaving him in chronic pain, largely crippled. (According to a biography by William McBrien and oral history by Brendan Gill.) His right leg was amputated in 1958 as a result of the injury.
Christopher Reeve (1952-2004), actor, paralyzed on May 27, 1995 from the neck down following a fall from his horse while riding cross-country in a 3-day event.
Kazu Makino In 2002 the singer suffered an accident falling from a horse; in the accident, the horse trampled her jaw and crushed her facial bones, which required massive reconstructive surgery
Historical figures
According to this legend, romanticised by Alexander Pushkin in his celebrated ballad "The Song of the Wise Oleg," it was prophesied by the pagan priests that Oleg of Novgorod (? - 912) would take death from his stallion. Proud of his own foretelling abilities, he sent the horse away. Many years later he asked where his horse was, and was told it had died. He asked to see the remains and was taken to the place where the bones lay. When he touched the horse's skull with his boot a snake slithered from the skull and bit him. Oleg died, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
King Afonso I of Portugal (1109-1185), was severely injured in a fall from a horse in 1167 during a battle; he was captured and as ransom, Portugal had to surrender to Castile all conquests made in Galicia in the previous years; they were never again recovered.
Afonso, Prince of Portugal (b. 1475) died in 1491 during a ride near the Tagus river.
King Alexander III of Scotland, d. 1286, when he and his horse went off the road in the dark, and fell over a cliff; the long term outcome was increased English influence and the First Scottish War of Independence and the immediate result was a regency because heirs were underage or unborn.
Al-Aziz Uthman - sultan of Egypt, died 1198
Brian Faulkner, former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
Cambyses II, Persian king - died accidentally in 521 BC, according to Herodotus
Eadgils, semi-legendary king of Sweden, split his skull when his horse stumbled and fell.
Emily Davison, English suffragette, threw herself in front of the King's horse at the Derby in 1913 and was trampled to death.
Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy (c. 1182 – 1242), fell from his horse onto his sword and died.
Francis II, Duke of Brittany ? d. 9 September 1488 from a horse riding accident.
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony died in 1854, while on a journey in Brennbüchel, Karrösten, Tyrol, when he fell in front of a horse that stepped on his head
Frederick I Barbarossa died in 1190 while crossing the Saleph River in Cilicia, south-eastern Anatolia. It is thought that he was thrown from his horse into the cold water and had a fatal heart attack as a result.
Fulk of Jerusalem - fell from horse while hunting in 1143. His wooden saddle fell after him, striking him on the head, causing fatal injuries.
Genghis Khan - d. 1227 from injuries resulting from a fall from a horse.
Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Brittany and son of Henry II of England, d. 19 August 1186 trampled to death by his horse during a tournament; with his death, Plantagenet rule of Brittany was weakened (son Arthur and daughter Eleanor were underage and in future imprisoned by uncle John I of England) - finally decades later, the duchy is passed by Philip II of France to the House of Dreux, descendants of Geoffrey's widow's other marriage.
Geronimo (1829 – 1909), prominent leader of the Bedonkohe Apache who fought against Mexico and Texas for several decades during the Apache Wars. Geronimo was thrown from his horse while riding home and lay in the cold all night, contracting pneumonia, from which he died.
Isabella of Aragon, wife of king Philip III of France - d. 1271 at 24 from a fall
John I of Castile d. 9 October 1390, while riding in a fantasia with some of the light horsemen known as the farfanes
John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut - d. 1236 after his horse fell on him and crushed him
Leopold V of Austria, died 31 December 1194 after falling from his horse at a tournament in Graz.
Louis II of Hungary - died at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 after falling from his horse.
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