Posted on 03/22/2007 8:59:06 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
VENICE, Fla. -- A 13-year-old Venice girl died after being thrown from a horse.
Mary Angela Jaquith was practicing for a jumping competition at her family farm on Saturday when another member of her riding club had a problem with a horse. Jaquith saddled up to see if she could help.
But the horse reared back, threw Jaquith to the ground and rolled over her.
Jaquith's mother, Debra is a former nurse. She rushed to the girl's side and found her unconscious and bleeding heavily.
Jaquith was airlifted to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.
Despite her riding helmet, Jaquith suffered a fracture to the base of her skull. She died on Sunday.
A Mass of Christian burial is scheduled for today in Venice.
I've been riding nearly 50 years (started when I was 4) and I can only think of 2-3 times when a horse deliberately bucked me off. Stopping in front of fences, now, that's a different story - that happens to me ALL the time although less since I switched from hunter-jumper to combined training, since I'm sitting deeper in the saddle and thus less likely to get "launched".
They didn't own the horse? Oh, well I agree then. He would have been dead before they could have even thought about it.
I have never understood why people who know nothing at all about a subject feel compelled to spout off about it.
I've never understood why when someone voices an opinion different then some one elses, on a forum such as this, people have to get insulting.....
he show horse is the best kept, best fed, best cared for animal other than maybe some elderly widow's poodle.
I disagree with this. Most of the "high quality" show horses I've been around are kept in stalls, so their coats won't fade. They very seldom get turned out with other horses because the owner doesn't want any dings on them. The poor creature may LOOK good, but they very seldom get to be a horse.
Most large show stables have their vet set up on a weekly farm visit schedule.
I agree, horses that are stalled so much usually have a variety of health issues.
Most show jumpers that go lame would have done so anyway from genetic reasons, such as navicular or arthritis related problems.
That's a debatable issue. The vet I use say that vets are figuring out that most of these horses that come up with these laming problems are because the horses are never in condition to do what is being asked of them.
But show jumping is the movie star life of the horse world.
That's opinion.
Becky
Hey thanks:)
I thought the post was pretty funny.
I came in after saddling my horse for some lunch and just checked in and saw that gem:)
Becky
I've been riding nearly 50 years (started when I was 4) and I can only think of 2-3 times when a horse deliberately bucked me off. Stopping in front of fences, now, that's a different story - that happens to me ALL the time although less since I switched from hunter-jumper to combined training, since I'm sitting deeper in the saddle and thus less likely to get "launched".
In my case, my dad taught me a 'paratrooper roll' when I was a kid so I roll when I hit. I sent my kids to Aikido training to learn how to fall and went myself for a little refresher . . . they drill it into you until it's automatic. I tripped over my own big feet a few weeks ago and took an ugly fall down a couple of steps. The Aikido kicked in automatically, and I tucked my head and shoulder, landed, rolled, and actually popped back up on my feet. The people around me were startled to say the least. . . . one wise guy applauded . . . so I bowed . . . (did the same thing years ago when a rather tall horse dumped me in front of a fence and I wound up in a full pike layout and landed on my feet) (pure chance but it was funny).
And you know, I'm willing to bet that the few times the horse took it into his head to ditch me, it probably WAS my fault, and I just didn't realize it at the time.
My last fall I knew was coming before I even left the saddle. Sam the Perch was cantering around the ring, and I was doing that fluid thing with the torso and arms to keep in the rhythm, and I lost said rhythm and knew a trip to the ground was in my immediate future.
My buddy Angela said it was one of the most graceful falls ever. She taught me most of what I know about how to fall, so I trust her judgement. ;)
Please see post #64:)
Becky
All Jr's guilty of is tumbling on over a jump gone wrong. There's a lot of acts of malice horses can be guilty of, but that accident isn't one of them.
So people were warned to give him a wide berth in the aisle. Lots of stallions can prone to biting, particularly if they're bored in a stall and kids might be likely to go give him treats if they weren't warned to stay away.
There were two people at that farm who had permission to handle him. At a barn full of lesson kids, I don't see anything unusual about that. Doesn't mean he wasn't good for anything but Alpo. Jeepers, ladies!
I gotta say, Junior was one of the most beautiful horses I'd ever seen. He was a gorgeous rich red-brown - I called him bay, but I don't know now if he might not have been chestnut, technically - with not a white hair on him.
He'd have been beautiful breeding stock. I don't remember enough about him to judge whether he had an actual temperament disorder or was just bored.
Would you have kept him at your stables?
Sure, probably. There's lots of good horses that still shouldn't be ridden and handled by kids.
When I first started riding I fell off the mounting block and rolled on my back with my arms out. The trainer stood there with her mouth open. She told me she had never seen anyone fall like that?
It sure is a big liability if something should happen later though, don't you think? Even if kids got to him that shouldn't have , some jury may still say but you knew he had killed someone . Oh well....I guess that's what insurance is for.
I've never fallen off a mounting block, but I've fallen off all sorts of ad hoc mounting blocks - car bumpers, buckets, tree stumps, etc. - because I HAVE to have something to climb on with and sometimes it's marginal to say the least.
One thing I finally figured out was that if I can't get up, I can get the horse down. I lead the mare into a ditch or put her below me on a steep downhill. That is actually easier (and I'm much less likely to fall off the GROUND!)
Mother says teen died doing what she loved
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb...ING20/70321014
By GINNY LAROE
ginny.laroe@heraldtribune.com
VENICE – It seemed like Mary Angela Jaquith was born to ride horses.
By the time she was 4, Mary was riding regularly. Through her childhood, when she wasn’t riding a horse she was talking about how she wanted to become a veterinarian.
Mary, 13, died Saturday as she and fellow Pony Club members were practicing for an upcoming jumping competition at the Jaquith family’s East Venice farm.
When a younger rider had problems with one of the family’s horses, Mary, who was more experienced, hopped saddled up to see if she could help.
Unknown to the nine riders, two instructors and parents who were there, the horse was likely back sore. When Mary mounted the horse it reared back, throwing her to the ground. Then it rolled over her.
Mary’s mother, Debra Jaquith, rushed to her side and tried to care for her. But Mary was unconscious and bleeding heavily.
Despite the riding helmet, she suffered a fracture to the base of her skull.
On Sunday, the blue-eyed girl died in her mother’s arms at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, where she was airlifted after the accident.
Jaquith, who rode horses with her home-schooled daughter four days a week, said she isn’t angry about the way her daughter died. Instead, she is comforted by the fact that she was doing what she loved.
“God wants us to live in the moment more than he wants us to dwell in the past,” Jaquith said. “That’s what he’s really teaching me.
“The day He created her, He knew He was going to take her back. You can’t second guess that. You accept it.”
If it wasn’t a horseback riding accident, it could have been a car wreck or something worse, Jaquith said.
On Wednesday, family and friends gathered at the Farley Funeral Home in Venice to grieve for the girl who wanted to become a veterinarian and a mother.
Friend Molly Martin, 13, one of the Pony Club members who was at the farm Saturday, remembered the way Mary was unafraid to be herself.
“She never cared what people thought of her,” Molly said.
Michael Jaquith,a local orthopedic surgeon, said his daughter had a strong faith in God and she showed it in the way she treated people.
While always mature beyond her years, he said he had noticed a change in her over the last year.
“She just became increasingly virtuous, avoiding arguments and not having to get her own way,” Jaquith said while surrounded by his wife and some of his surviving seven children.
Mass of Christian Burial will is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at Epiphany Cathedral in Venice.
Just about all my falls have been mounting related. Once in the saddle I feel safe:')
It would create a liability problem in the future for his owners if the action was deliberate.
They will be ok. (darn itchy eyes)
No, it's what the term "assumed risk" is for. If he was really that bad of a biter I wouldn't give him access to the aisle. Anyone on a horse property is assuming a presumed risk, and the death that happened was an assumed risk of jumping.
He didn't 'kill' someone. He refused a jump and tumbled over it because he couldn't get himself stopped in time. That's an accident. He didn't seek the guy out and stomp him to death.
I'm surprised at you both. 
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