Margie McLoone

EVENT rider Kate Keenan, who suffered multiple fractures to her pelvis in a heavy fall at Maddybenny last Saturday, is recuperating in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, having undergone surgery there on Thursday.

Riding Countmein in the CNC* class, Keenan fell at the second cross-country fence and was pinned underneath the thrashing six-year-old for a short period.

She was attended to by the medical personnel on duty before being removed by ambulance to the nearby hospital in Coleraine.

Thankfully, Keenan’s mother had travelled up with her the previous day, staying the night with the Smiths, and went with her daughter in the ambulance. At Coleraine, Keenan’s fractures were diagnosed and she was transferred that evening to the Royal, which she hopes to leave by the end of next week.

“I believe the air jacket may have saved my life,” said the Dublin-based rider, a veterinary surgeon who is now studying medicine. “I’ve been thanking God I always wear it cross-country, even at a ‘little’ one-day event on a very good horse. There is not even a mark on my upper body despite the squash and Rambo kicking me frantically while trying to get up.”

Countmein, who has never had a jumping fault cross-country, was unhurt in the fall.

On Saturday, the Smyth Brothers team took charge of Kate’s two horses (she also had My Good Thyne Girl in the EI100 Amateur class) and they were brought home on Monday.