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Two weeks after the accident left her hospitalized, the injured rider is speaking out to educate others on equestrian safety.
A Hamilton town official has been hospitalized and left mourning the death of her horse after she was thrown off while riding on an Ipswich trail.
Rosie Kennedy, clerk of the Hamilton Select Board, has been riding the trail for years, but after a Nov. 21 incident, she’s now suffering an unstable left ankle fracture and a right medial collateral ligament tear. However, she said the worst pain is the grief she’s feeling for her 8-year-old horse, Pops, who had to be euthanized.
Kennedy told Boston.com that a man on a mountain bike spooked Pops as they approached railroad tracks that the trail crossed. When Kennedy first caught a glimpse of something speeding through the trees out of the corner of her eye, she said, she wasn’t sure what it was.
Whatever it was, it frightened Pops, who spun around and reared, retreating towards the field. As Kennedy tried to comfort him, disaster struck.
“All of a sudden, he just went berserk and was rearing and spinning and just jumping all over the place, and I was unable to keep my balance,” Kennedy said. “I was starting to come off as Pops was starting to gallop away, and my left foot got stuck in one of his stirrups.”
Pops dashed away in fear, dragging Kennedy down the trail behind him. She told Boston.com that she wasn’t sure how long she was dragged for but that she was fearing for her life.
“I actually thought I was going to die, and I just prayed that it would be quick,” Kennedy said. “That’s how terrifying it was.”
Eventually, the stirrup became detached, and Pops galloped away at “lightning speed,” leaving Kennedy lying on the ground in pain. A man in bicycle gear approached her to ask if she was okay, and it was then that she realized that his mountain bike was what had spooked Pops.
“I surmised that this person turned into the field where I was, and in Pops’ mind, this thing was chasing him, and he lost his absolute ability to be rational,” Kennedy told Boston.com. “He was running for his life as far as he was concerned.”
After Kennedy asked him why he was riding on the tracks, he left her lying there. Though he wouldn’t tell her his name, she snapped a picture of him as he was heading back to his bike.
Kennedy said she hobbled on her own back to the barn, where a friend met her and called an ambulance. A veterinarian later found Pops and discovered that he had a fracture in his left shoulder.
“It was not something that was fixable,” Kennedy said. “The decision had to be made that he had been fatally injured, and they just euthanized him right there.”
Kennedy described what happened as “the fear of so many equestrians” in a part of Massachusetts where horse riding is particularly popular. She still doesn’t know what exactly happened with the biker, but Ipswich police have been investigating.
Doctors have told Kennedy that she’ll be in the hospital at least until next week; after that, she’ll be wheelchair-bound for several more weeks, she said. As she recovers, she’s now sharing her story as a warning to bikers who don’t know the proper etiquette when they encounter horses and riders on trails.
“The most salient fact is to realize that even the most sane horse can be startled and that bicyclists or pedestrians always have a responsibility to give priority to a horse,” Kennedy said. “Equestrians have as much a right to a safe environment as anybody else does.”
The Essex County Trail Association echoed Kennedy’s sentiments in a Facebook post responding to the accident.
“When encountering a horse and rider, from head on or from behind, bikers and runners should come to a stop and call out a greeting, wait for acknowledgement, and allow the horse to pass,” the association said on Facebook. “Please remember; horses are unpredictable and individuals and may react differently than expected. Open friendly conversation between parties will help prevent accidents.”
Though Kennedy is devastated by Pops’ death, she said she’s going to keep her horse-riding career going in his honor.
“Pops has been a lovely horse, and Pops taught me a lot,” Kennedy said through tears. “I think about the subtleties that Pops taught me and his legacy. I’m going to keep his legacy alive and go on and ride another horse and thank Pops for everything he taught me.”
Ipswich police have not yet provided any further updates to their investigation as of Thursday evening.
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