Horse crash

How often do you see a crash? One which threatens the lives of the participants?

Even more rarely, how often do you see a horse crash? And then, how often do see the horse crash and also have your camera in place for photos?

Last weekend, we attended the Blair Castle International Horse Trials. Below is a cross country horse crash, moment by moment. According to the time recorded on my camera, the following sequence took place between 11:02:26 and 11:02:32. A near-death experience drawn out over six seconds:

"Drop fence" jumps like this one are challenging because the horse has to land on ground lower than where it leaped. Horses can find it disconcerting to jump if they can't see where they will land.

The horse in this crash appeared to come away unscathed. Its rider apparently suffered a significant injury -- she held her leg in obvious pain, and audible radio reports from the surrounding staff indicated it was broken -- but was not hurt nearly as badly as she could have been.

Best wishes to the rider while she recovers! Here's a cheerier overview of the Blair Castle International Horse Trials:

http://coloringwithoutborders.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/blair-castle-international-horse-trials.html

http://coloringwithoutborders.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/equestrian-faces-pictures-of.html