You never know when...

When you have been around horses for a very long time it is easy to fall into the mindset that ‘it won’t happen to me!’.

In our experience it doesn’t matter whether you are a veteran in the horse world or a beginner, accidents do not discriminate, it’s only a matter of time - 50 years in this case!

Long-term BGA member, Simone Money has been riding for over 50 years, and she had her first-ever injury earlier this year.

Simone is sharing her story to highlight it doesn’t matter how experienced you are, accidents happen.

Simone’s beginning

“My parents were both horsey, so I started riding from a very young age. They would bring back a lorry load of ponies from Wales and we would break them in. As my two sisters were younger than me, I was the crash test dummy! As soon as the ponies were okay to be ridden by me, they were passed on to my younger sisters to enjoy.

My passion has always been horses and I never really enjoyed school and used to spend my daydreaming of being back at home with the horses. When I finally finished school, I went to Ruth McMullen for work experience and ended up spending two years there!

A life working with horses was clearly my path, and I have been on my current yard for 14 years. It is predominately a hunting yard, all the horses are prepared for the Field Master. We also have some racehorses here for re-training and I have evented up to intermediate level with some of the horses.”

Simone’s accident

“After 50 years of riding everything from Shetlands to Shires, to racehorses, and everything in between, I had my first ever accident.

I had been showjumping, and we were at the last fence of the course, I don’t know what happened, it was so quick, but we both ended up eating dirt!

The horse was okay, but I ended up badly breaking my collarbone. My boss took me to the hospital, where I covered her car and the A&E waiting room in sand.

At first, the hospital decided not to pin the collar bone, but a few weeks later it was decided I needed to be pinned as the one moved and was about an inch apart. I was so worried after the operation itself and the scar it would leave as the area was quite prominent. Once it had healed, I realised the surgeon had better sewing skills than my rug-mending skills!

Recovery is always longer than you think - I was off for nine weeks as I needed time to fully recover. A lot of my job involves riding youngsters, so I needed my strength and full use of my body. I had the accident on the 2nd of May and I would say only now do I feel fully recovered, and I am still having physio.”

Insurance is a must

Fortunately in this case Simone had suitable personal accident insurance in place to provide a weekly income while she was unable to work - Simone had this insurance as part of her BGA membership!

Thanks to Simone for sharing her important story, which highlights how an experienced horseperson with a lifetime around horses can still have an accident and be out of work for several weeks.

If you couldn’t work, could you pay your bills?