YOUNG Irish rider Eoin McMahon has been diagnosed with a fractured vertebrae in his neck following a heavy fall that claimed the life of his horse at a show in Munich.

Carl Hanley’s stable rider and his mount Questfinder fell at a water fence on course and the horse was later put down due to a broken leg.

McMahon has been allowed to leave hospital under strict instructions to rest and wear a neck support for a number of weeks.

Carl Hanley Sport Horses issued a statement this afternoon which read: “Eoin is home from hospital and will have to rest for five weeks and ware [sic] a neck support for two weeks as a more detailed look at the MRI scan on Monday revealed he has a fractured vertebrae in his Neck but not broken through, the Doctor said if it had broken through it would have been fatal!”

It continued: “Eoin is very lucky not to be worse off from this accident! Now it's time to move on upwards and onwards!!”

Earlier this week, Carl Hanley reported that the horse Questfinder had been put down due to the injuries incurred in the fall.

“Questfinder…he broke his leg in the fall and had to be put to sleep on the spot, a sad day losing such a great, kind and wonderful horse that we enjoyed working with for almost 3 years.”