List of horse accidents

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.
• Louis IV of France (920-954), king of France, died after falling from his horse.
• Maria Malibran, opera singer, died 1836 after falling from her horse during a hunt
• Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce and half-sister of David II of Scotland d. 2 March 1316 after a fall from a horse caused premature labour; her baby survived to become King Robert II of Scotland
• Mary, Queen of Hungary, died childless but heavily pregnant on 17 May 1395 when her horse tripped, threw her and landed on top of her
• Mary, Duchess of Burgundy ? d. 1482 from a horse riding accident; after her death, the Burgundy estates (of which she herself had lost Picardy and duchy of Burgundy) formed a part of Habsburg domains
• Minamoto no Yoritomo, (源 頼朝, May 9, 1147—February 9, 1199)
• Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Saladin, died on 9 August 1173 after falling from his horse
• Nero Claudius Drusus (in 9 BC), brother of emperor Tiberius and general in Germania Inferior
• Philip of Burgundy, count of Auvergne and heir of Duke Eudes IV of Burgundy - d.1346, from a kick of a farmer's horse; his widow married the king of France, and the succession went to his underage son Philip I of Burgundy.
• Philip of France (1116–1131), heir of king Louis VI of France ? d. 1131, from a fall from a horse
• Pope Urban VI - died 1389 from injuries sustained after falling from a mule.
• Robert Peel - was thrown from his horse while riding up Constitution Hill in London on 29 June 1850. The horse stumbled on top of him and he died three days later on 2 July at the age of 62 due to a clavicular fracture rupturing his subclavian vessels.
• Roderick, king of the Visigoths. Died in 712 when he drowned after falling from his horse while attempting to escape through a river, after defeat against the Moors that conquered then the rest of Hispania. Although his body was never found, his horse was recovered, and a boot trampled in the stirrup.
• Saborios, Byzantine general and rebel - d. 678 when his horse bolted, slamming his head on a city gate and killing him.
• Stefan Dragutin, Serbian king, in 1282 broke leg after falling from horse, became limp and so had to give throne to Stefan Milutin; this later provoked a war between Milutin and Dragutin's son Vladislav.
• Theodoric Strabo, died in 381 after falling from his horse over a spears rack. His death allowed Theoderic to assume uncontested supreme command and unify the Ostrogoths into a force that conquered Italy after the Fall of the Roman Empire.
• Theodosius II - Roman emperor, died 450
• Theophylactus of Constantinople - Patriarch of Constantinople, died 956
• Walter de Merton, Lord Chancellor of England - died 1277
• William the Conqueror died aged 60 at the Convent of St. Gervais, near Rouen, France, on 9 September 1087 from abdominal injuries received from his saddle pommel when he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes.
• William III of England died in 1702 from injuries received after his horse tripped on a molehill.

Fictional characters

• John Andrew Last is fatally kicked by a horse; his death precipitates his parents' divorce in Evelyn Waugh's satirical novel "A Handful of Dust"
• Bentley Drummle is mentioned as having died in a horse-related accident in "Great Expectations"
• Bonnie Blue Butler, daughter of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. Like her maternal grandfather, Gerald O'Hara, she died after her accident.
• Gerald O'Hara, father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. He died while chasing away Mr. Wilkerson and Emmy Slattery when a horse jumped over a fence which broke afterwards.
• King Théoden of Rohan, in The Lord of the Rings. Crushed by his dying horse Snowmane after being struck by the Lord of the Nazgûl during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Died from wounds shortly after.
• Drew Kirk, was killed after being thrown from a horse in Neighbours.
• Bryan Patrick, son of Barry dies several days after a horse riding accident in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.

Horse racing

• Charles W. Boland, Canadian jockey, thrown from his horse.
• Hughie Cairns, 40, a jockey who died on 27 July 1929 in a fall at Moonee Valley, VIC.
• Philip Cheng, Hong Kong jockey, fell from horse and was trampled to death.
• Tom Clayton, Australian jockey, died from injuries sustained in a 12 horse fall.
• Amado Credidio, 24, Panamanian jockey, died when his mount Spartan Monk clipped heels with another horse in a race at Aqueduct on March 29, 1982. He fell into the path of oncoming horses which could not avoid him.
• Earl Dew, 19, American jockey, 1940 national champion. Died from head injuries caused from a spill in the 6th race on 2 February 1941. It was Earl Dew day at Agua Caliente Racetrack.
• Caitlan Forrest, 19-year-old Australian apprentice jockey died in October, 2014, from injuries suffered when her horse broke his leg and fell, throwing her into the rail. Forrest was the fourth female jockey to die on the track near Adelaide in the past 18 months.
• Avelino Gomez, Cuban-born jockey based in Canada, died from injuries sustained in a fall in the Canadian Oaks at Woodbine Racetrack in June 1980.
• Billy Haughton, Harness racing driver, died from injuries sustained in a crash at Yonkers Raceway.
• Frank Hayes, American jockey, died from a heart attack while riding his horse Sweet Kiss to victory at Belmont Park.
• Willy Kan, Hong Kong jockey, fell from horse and was trampled to death.
• Kieran Kelly, Irish jockey, died from injuries caused by a fall at Kilbeggan racecourse, 2003.
• Manny Mercer, died in 1959 after being kicked in the head after a fall at Ascot Racecourse.
• Donald Nicholson, killed in the 1885 Caulfield Cup fall, when 17 of the 44 runners fell.
• Ray Oliver, killed in a fall at Kalgoorlie Western Australia.
• Jason Oliver, killed in a fall at Ascot Racecourse, Western Australia when horse broke both front legs.
• Álvaro Pineda, Mexican jockey, died in 1975 through a blow to the head in the starting gates; brother of Roberto Pineda.
• Roberto Pineda, Mexican jockey, died in 1978; brother of Alvaro Pineda.
• Michael Rowland, American jockey, died from head injuries after falling from his horse.
• Neville Sellwood, Australian Racing Hall of Fame jockey killed in 1962 at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse, France.
• Brian Taylor, British jockey, died from injuries sustained after tumbling from his horse.
• Mike Venezia, American jockey, died after a race fall.
• Jack Westrope, American jockey, died in 1958.
• George Woolf, Canadian jockey, concussion after a fall during a race at Santa Anita Park believed to have been caused by hypoglycemia. (Woolf was a Type 1 diabetic.)
• Nathanaëlle Artu, French Jockey, died on her 22nd birthday on July 17, 2006 after a fall at 'Prix de l'Isle Briand' (Lion d'Angers) the day before.

Jousting and Tournaments

• John Dunbar, Earl of Moray (d. 1390) a Scottish nobleman.
• Henry II of France (d. 1559) - died from lance wound; his death was a factor in the end of jousting as a sport

Others

• Ellen Church
• Paul Clarkin - died from a fall during a polo match, "playing a blinder"
• Gabriel Donoso - died from a fall during a polo match.
• Frederic Brooks Dugdale
• Charles Fairfax
• Carlos Gracida - thrown and crushed by horse during a polo match in 2014.
• Edward Hempstead - thrown and died six days later.
• Kim Hyung-chil - died in Dec 2006 while competing in the cross-country part of the three-day event in the 2006 Asian Games
• Erica Marshall - In 2012, Dr. Marshall died in explosion of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber when the horse that was being treated caused a spark with his metal horse shoe.
• Billy Pearson
• Kenneth Pinyan - died in July 2005 after engaging in anal sex with a horse