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Freak Accident
One woman killed, two injured in horse accident
September 15, 2009
A bystander was killed and another critically injured when a ridden horse ran over them in Illinois.
The Kane County Sheriff's office named the dead woman as Margareta Goldstein, 66, of Germany, who was pronounced dead at St Joseph Hospital in Elgin.
The other bystander, who was said to be in a critical condition at the hospital, was named as Rentae Anna Margarete, 76, of Silver Glenn Rd, St Charles, Illinois.
The rider, whose injuries are understood not to be life-threatening, was Charlotte Anna VonHarling, 19, of Germany, who is also in hospital.
The sheriff's office said it was called with emergency services to Kendall Road, in the township of Plato, about 4pm on Monday after a report that three people had been injured by a horse.
"The initial investigation shows that a female was riding a horse in an open field," Sheriff Patrick Perez said.
"At some point she was unable to control the horse and the horse ran into two women who were standing in the field.
"The impact of the horse striking the two bystanders caused each of them to be thrown backwards and the rider was thrown from the horse.
"The rider's foot became entangled in the saddle and the horse drug the rider about 20 feet.
"At some point the horse began to trample one of the bystanders.
"All three women were transported to local hospitals, where one of the bystanders was pronounced deceased," he said.
"The other bystander is listed in critical condition. The rider appears to have non-life-threatening injuries."
The sheriff said all three women were related and it appears they were also related to the owner of the horse.
September 15, 2009
A bystander was killed and another critically injured when a ridden horse ran over them in Illinois.
The Kane County Sheriff's office named the dead woman as Margareta Goldstein, 66, of Germany, who was pronounced dead at St Joseph Hospital in Elgin.
The other bystander, who was said to be in a critical condition at the hospital, was named as Rentae Anna Margarete, 76, of Silver Glenn Rd, St Charles, Illinois.
The rider, whose injuries are understood not to be life-threatening, was Charlotte Anna VonHarling, 19, of Germany, who is also in hospital.
The sheriff's office said it was called with emergency services to Kendall Road, in the township of Plato, about 4pm on Monday after a report that three people had been injured by a horse.
"The initial investigation shows that a female was riding a horse in an open field," Sheriff Patrick Perez said.
"At some point she was unable to control the horse and the horse ran into two women who were standing in the field.
"The impact of the horse striking the two bystanders caused each of them to be thrown backwards and the rider was thrown from the horse.
"The rider's foot became entangled in the saddle and the horse drug the rider about 20 feet.
"At some point the horse began to trample one of the bystanders.
"All three women were transported to local hospitals, where one of the bystanders was pronounced deceased," he said.
"The other bystander is listed in critical condition. The rider appears to have non-life-threatening injuries."
The sheriff said all three women were related and it appears they were also related to the owner of the horse.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on
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I bet they put that horse down. :( What a horrible story....
township???? that is still a word?
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Permalink Reply by Mary Bargerstock on
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It wasn't the horses fault and all horse people know crap happens. It sounds like the older women were either selling the horse and letting the other person try the horse or watching the horse being ridden and it ran away with the younger woman. Why would they put the horse down? That is just nonsense. The women shouldn't have been standing in the field in the first place.
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Permalink Reply by Dorothy McDonall on
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Sounds to me like someone wasn't doing their due diligence. I would ask the same question ... what were they doing in the middle of an open field?
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Permalink Reply by M H on
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'Why were they standing in an open field?' is a silly question. They were watching the horse and rider, of course. Nothing at all wrong with that. The rider had an entire open field, the safety of spectators would not have been a problem if her riding skills were adequate to the horse she was on.
Maybe the horse spooked and bolted and it was too much for the rider. But the horse was behaving on instinct, it did not make a choice to kill or injure someone. The story doesn't say exactly what everyone did, we don't know if there is any blame to assign. Whatever the ultimate cause, it was an accident.
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Permalink Reply by Jen B on
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Indeed, why wouldn't they be standing in a field? This is such a horrific and bizarre accident that it leaves more questions than answers. But I don't think blaming the victims is fair. Honestly I don't think there are too many of us who haven't lost control of our horse at one point or another, no matter how good a rider we are.
My heart goes out to all involved.
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I have personal experience with freak accidents ... the one I was involved in killed the horse I was riding. There was no way I could have predicted what was going to happen. There is never anyway anyone can predict what will happen from moment to moment on a horse, unless we are totally "in the moment" with them, and even that can be a crap shoot.
What we don't know from this report is how experienced the rider was or wasn't; how green the horse was, or wasn't; what the purpose was of being out in the middle of the field, etc. Yes, more questions than answers. So, perhaps to come to any conclusions without knowing the full details is a wrong-headed idea, and thus I will not draw any.
This is tragic on so many levels and, I believe, a lesson to us all not to take the horse for granted at any time. Like Jen B. my heart goes out to these people.
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OMG Dorothy, how awful.. :(
I am not saying I would put the horse down... but I've heard of horses in my area put down for less, put it that way.
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It is the, "At some point the horse began to trample one of the bystanders", line that leaves me with the most questions.
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Permalink Reply by Fiona Hill on
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What a terrible thing to happen. What surprises me is that the horse had a whole 'open field' to run around and it chose to run into two humans. One can only assume that they tried to get into its way to stop it, or something. As people have said, it leaves more questions than answers. Very sad for all concerned - including the horse.
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That is surprising Fiona. Although I saw a video recently of a horrible crash (or crashs) in a pleasure driving class. Two horses that got loose (at different times, not together) kept running (crashing) into the people and carts that had gathered in the middle of the ring, despite efforts to keep them on the rail, where they had clear space to gallop. I thought it was strange behaviour.
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Yes, I saw that video. Could hardly believe my eyes. My only thought on this is that those horses must have been so terrorized by the experience that they didn't even know what they were doing. Maybe that's what happened with this other horse.
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