“There Was Something Wrong”: Mother of Teenage Jockey Killed in a Horse Riding Accident Joins Calls for Inquest Into A French Equestrian Death

Equestrian sports are a risky affair. Jockeys and horses face serious repercussions in case of a fall. Case in point -in March 2009, a teenager named Sarah Waugh lost her life after a fall from a thoroughbred. The subsequent inquiries into the accident revealed that the mare given to the inexperienced girl was a 6 ½ weeks retired ex-racehorse. Ever since, Sarah’s mother, Juliana Waugh has become an ardent advocate of safety reforms within the sport.

In February 2022, a 30-year-old French female Equestrian, Marina Morel, lost her life in a tragic accident while riding a horse, Lina’s Choice, for her trainer Brett Thompson at NSW country racecourse. Julian Waugh is now pushing for a public inquest into the case to ensure the prevention of future equestrian calamities.

Julia Waugh joined the fight for a public inquest into Marina Morel’s death

According to Waugh very often with horses, people just say that they are high risk and that is what happened with her daughter. “ As we began to piece things together we realized there was something wrong. A coronial inquest is a way to find the little mistakes that join up to a catastrophe,” she affirms to The Sydney Morning Herald. 

Read More: “Devastated for You”: Horrifying Fall Forces Trainer to Euthanize Horse, Equestrian World Shattered Over the Loss

Julia confirmed that she is not blaming someone for the incident but wants to find out where things have gone wrong and learn from them to prevent future casualties. Marina’s mother Maria Morel has also backed the idea of a public inquest into her daughter’s death. It would, she feels, help in questioning the state of affairs that led to the disaster.

Read  More: “A Tragic Incident”: Mother of 15-Year-Old Equestrian Witnessed Her Child’s Horrifying State After Horse Landed on the Rider Once

The Chief vet of Racing NSW during the period of the accident, Toby Koenig, had resigned from the job shortly after Marina’s death. This raised suspicions about the accident. Also, a post-mortem report of Lina Choice by the School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, raised doubts whether the horse had returned to the field before healing from the previous injury which led to the fateful incident.

Data suggests Horse injuries could be fatal for riders

The data secured from conducting racehorse postmortems in California reflected that a greater than 80 percent of horse fatalities are a result of previous injury or disease. Peta Lee Hitchens, suggests that protecting horses from injuries will help in protecting riders from fatalities. 

Hitchens is the Equine Limb Injury Prevent Program’s lead epidemiologist and an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne.  “A lot of serious jockey injuries and fatalities are the direct result of riding a horse that has broken down under them,” she said. She stated that increasing knowledge and awareness of trainers about the development of injuries in horses had led to a decline in casualties in North America and Victoria.

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Equestrian calamities often leave the family of the departed, and the sporting community in distress. Ensuring safe protocols and abiding by them is the only way forward to decrease such disasters. What do you think?