HORSE SENSE: Are you serious about safety 16 September 2016 Premium

HOME

USE PAPER CODESIGN IN

16 September 2016

Leanne O'Sullivan on 16 Sep 2016

HORSE SENSE: Are you serious about safety

Leanne O'Sullivan chats to Donal O'Beirne of Hoofprints Innovations about riding safety and protection

Leanne O'Sullivan

16 September 2016

Donal O'Beirne and his horse Gorsehill Maestro, both well on their way to recovery

Donal O’Beirne of the Bray Harriers suffered an aortic tear, four broken ribs, two punctured lungs, a broken collarbone, torn ligaments and a broken sternum out hunting last year. His horse caught his foot in a tree fork while jumping and did a rotational fall on top of his rider down a seven-foot drop. Donal was wearing a Hit-Air vest, however on this occasion Dónal had taken a tumble earlier on in the day, deploying the air vest and continued on without having replaced the air cylinder - le

Dónal wearing his deployed Hit-Air vest after his earlier fall on the day of his accident

Charles Owen helmet

Champion back protector Dec 2012

Hit Air combo (inflated)

This is a level two bike and sports spine protector. It is not certified for equestrian use but could be used as a bare minimum for those that won't wear body protectors or hit air vests

This gentleman suffered a severe trauma to the head, when out hunting, leaving him unconscious and bleeding on the road. His local foxhounds were hunting and the field were in pursuit down a tar macadam road. As the field went to pull-up his horse slipped and stumbled to his knees unseating his rider. The fall was painful but what followed was something else entirely. An oncoming horse kicked him in the back and knocked off his hat which had no chin strap, leaving his head unprotected. Another h

RIDING is a risk sport.

RELATED STORIES

Eogháin Ward

EOGHÁIN WARD: Concerns for northern points

There are fears that a private members’ bill to outlaw hunting could affect the point-to-point scene

Irish Field Contributor

PICTURE DESK: Out and about

Check out these great pictures from across the Irish equestrian scene over the past week

Helen Sharp

Advertorial Envy: delivering weed-free horse paddocks

The experts at Envy share their advice on how to control unwanted weeds in your paddocks

Helen Sharp

Combatting wet ground for better grass growth

Horse Sense asked director of Scott's Contracting Ltd Stephen Scott to help us understand the best course of action for our grazing ground following such a wet start to the year