Newmarket racehorse in breaking: injury to jockey

Ms I was employed by the Defendant at a Newmarket stud as a rider and groom. The stud undertook the ‘breaking’ of horses, i.e. the training of a horse to accept a rider for the first time. She was instructed to ride a 1-2 year old unbroken filly onto the stud track. It was the first occasion on which the filly had been ridden onto the track as part of its training as a racehorse.

The filly had been given a sedative ACP but although Ms I was very experienced she still had considerable difficulty in controlling the filly. She suggested to the Defendant that the filly be returned to the paddock but the request was refused. Instead she was told to swap horses with a male colleague who was stronger and heavier than her.

This arrangement continued the following day (though with more sedative) but on the third day Ms I was instructed to ride the filly onto the track but despite the head girl’s request sedative was refused.

A maintenance man, who had no relevant experience in handling horses, was instructed to provide the Claimant with a leg up. The Defendant and another rider mounted and rode out of sight of the filly before the Claimant had mounted properly. This led to the filly panicking and moved backwards in the direction that the other horses had departed. The maintenance man first hung onto the filly’s reins and then suddenly let go so the filly fell backwards and crushed Ms I’s leg against a gate post.

She suffered a broken fibula and knee ligament injury and was unable to return to the same work.

The claim was settled for £42,000. The legal costs were paid by the defendant.


Riding school injury leads to depression

Mrs M was a novice rider attending a riding school. She was given to ride a horse that was too difficult for her to control given her lack of experience. In particular it had a tendency to run away with its novice riders.

The horse broke into a canter, too much for Mrs M who fell from the horse at some speed and hit her head on the ground as she fell.

She suffered a minor head injury where there was a combined duration of impairment or consciousness and post-traumatic amnesia of the order of perhaps seconds or a few minutes. She went on to develop neck pain and various physical complaints symptomatic of a whiplash-type injury.

She developed within about 2 weeks of the accident a severe depressive illness with psychotic features, and mood swings, including bipolar mood swings within the day, indicative probably of a mixed affective disorder. She suffered feelings of mania and has psychotic features with a content that was mood congruent, seeing religious visions.

She had considerable psychiatric disability with recurrent bipolar episodes, largely depression but also hypomanic symptoms. The accident accelerated the onset of this disorder by 4-5 years.

She also suffers cognitive complaints of poor concentration and memory which are secondary to her mood disturbance and also reflect in part her psychotic state and her medication. She also developed a phobia of horse-riding which has persisted over time.

The case was settled for £50,000. The legal costs were paid by the defendant.