Top girl rider, 16 killed as tractor spooks her horse
A FARM worker watched in horror as a top young rider suffered fatal head injuries when she was thrown from her horse after it was spooked by his tractor, an inquest heard.
Talented public schoolgirl Lucy Woolley, 16, who had ridden in national eventing competitions, was on a morning ride near her home.
She guided her horse Alfi e past the vehicle but he reared up and bolted, hurling Lucy to the ground.
Her mother Julia knew something was wrong when the horse returned alone to the family’s £ 800,000 home in Chatisham, near Ipswich, Suffolk, in August this year.
Finding Lucy injured from the fall, she fl ew with her by air ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Her daughter had three hours of surgery but died the next day.
Tractor driver Thomas Hanmer, 22, who has known the teenager’s family for years, told how he stopped to let Lucy pass. He said: “Suddenly the horse started jumping and took off at speed and raced away.
“She was leaving the saddle and going into the air. Then about 20 yards away I saw her fall.
“Seeing it happen I could not understand why the horse behaved in the way it did. The tractor had no trailer or external noise, just the engine. There was never a problem before.”
Lucy was thrown as her mount bolted The inquest heard how Lucy, a pupil at £ 11,736- a- year Ipswich High School, suffered a “signifi cant but isolated” head injury despite wearing a helmet.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Dr Peter Dean said: “It was an accident that led to the loss of someone who was highly regarded and much loved.”
Mrs Woolley, 48, a regional business manager at the Financial Times, said she and her husband Peter, who runs a media company, agonised over letting Lucy get involved in the “dangerous” sport. But she added: “That’s what she lived for.”