Scientific paperEquestrian injuries: incidence, injury patterns, and risk factors for 10 years of major traumatic injuries
Section snippets
Material and Methods
All patients admitted to our institution between January 1, 1995, and July 1, 2005, as a direct result of an equestrian injury, were identified via our trauma registry. The Foothills Medical Centre is an adult tertiary care trauma referral center that is responsible for all major injuries in southern Alberta. This is also the area of the province where equine activities are most common. The trauma registry is a prospective database, updated daily with all aspects of a patient’s status and
Results
During the 10-year study period, 7941 injured adult patients were treated at the Foothills Medical Centre. A total of 151 (2%) patients were admitted with equestrian injuries. Ten (7%) patients died. Of the 141 potential respondents, 78 (55%) completed the survey. No patient refused to complete the questionnaire. We were unable to engage the remaining patients because of outdated contact information.
The average respondent was male (60%) and 47 years of age (range, 20–78 y). These patient
Comments
Although the true frequency of equestrian injuries in Alberta is unclear, as many as 96% of patients are treated for minor injuries without hospitalization [20]. This relatively low admission rate (.49/1000 hours of riding) confirms the benign nature of many of these injuries. The incidence of severe (ISS ≥ 12) equestrian trauma in this study cohort, however, was 2% (151 of 7941) of all patients treated at our center. This is consistent with the less than 2% rate reported in other studies from
References (30)
- et al.
Injuries due to falls from horses
Aust J Public Health
(1993) Livestock trauma in central Texas: cowboys, ranchers and dudes
J Emerg Nurs
(2001)- et al.
A review of horse-related injuries in a rural Colorado hospital: implications for outreach education
J Emerg Nurs
(2005) - et al.
Animal-related injury in an urban New Zealand population
Injury
(2004) - et al.
Rodeo related large animal injury: is protective head-gear warranted?
Injury
(2000) - et al.
Factors related to the failure of radiographic recognition of occult posttraumatic pneumothoraces
Am J Surg
(2005) - et al.
Equestrian injuries: a five year review
J Emerg Med
(1994) - et al.
Accidents with horses: what has changed in 20 years?
Injury
(1996) - 1998 National horse industry study. Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. Available from:...
Equestrian injuries: a five year review of hospital admissions in British Columbia, Canada
Inj Prev
(2005)
Neurologic Injuries in Equestrian Sports
Demographics of alpine skiing and snowboarding injury: lessons for prevention programs
Inj Prev
Mechanisms and patterns of injuries related to large animals
J Trauma
The grave yawns for the horsemanEquestrian deaths in South Australia 1973–1983
Med J Aust
Rider injury rates and emergency medical services at equestrian events
Br J Sports Med
Cited by (154)
Animal hazards—their nature and distribution
2023, Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, Second EditionHorse riding and the lower limbs
2023, Behaviour in our Bones: How Human Behaviour Influences Skeletal MorphologyThe presence of various tack and equipment in sale horse advertisements in Australia and North America
2022, Journal of Veterinary BehaviorCitation Excerpt :Equestrian sports result in higher hospitalization rates than motorcycle riding (Sorli, 2000), and over 45% of sport-related traumatic brain injuries can be attributed to equestrian sport (Winkler et al., 2016). Horse behavior in response to fear or frustration plays a significant role in equestrian-related hospitalization rates (Ball et al., 2007). This may explain the appeal of attempts to constrain unwelcome behavior physically.
Androstenone induces horses to be more compliant with human–horse interactions
2022, Journal of Veterinary BehaviorNew insights into ridden horse behaviour, horse welfare and horse-related safety
2022, Applied Animal Behaviour ScienceCitation Excerpt :Which riders are most at risk is unclear, but some evidence suggests it is young female riders (Acton et al., 2020; Chitnavis et al., 1996; Dekker et al., 2004; O'Connor et al., 2018), followed by older, experienced riders (Ball et al., 2007; Kruger et al., 2018; Meredith et al., 2018), while others found all riders to be at risk (Abu-Zidan and Rao, 2003). The most common cause of injury while riding is falling from horses (Ball et al., 2007; O'Connor et al., 2018), with several authors suggesting horse behaviour is responsible for many falls (Hawson et al., 2010; Warren-Smith and McGreevy, 2008), beyond that, little has been published. While further investigation is needed to determine why horse riding is so dangerous, it is known that potentially dangerous ridden horse behaviours are common (Hockenhull and Creighton, 2013) and a suggested cause of rider falls (Ball et al., 2007; O'Connor et al., 2018).