List of horse accidents
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This is a list of people and fictional characters who had severe injuries, or died from accidents related with horses. Some of the listed accidents had important political and historical consequences, which are given when relevant.
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Statistics
It has long been recognised that the incidence of horse accidents is statistically predictable. Ladislaus Bortkiewicz examined data from records of 10 Prussian army corps over 20 years. He demonstrated that the 91 deaths from the kick of a horse followed a statistical pattern known as the Poisson distribution.
| Number of deaths per army corps per annum | Death by kick of horse frequency of occurrence |
|---|---|
| 0 | 109 |
| 1 | 65 |
| 2 | 22 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 1 |
Celebrities
- Paris Hilton, hotel heiress and reality show celebrity, injured in 2004, spent one afternoon in hospital
- Roy Kinnear, British character actor, killed in 1988; bled to death due to a broken pelvis sustained by a horse fall
- Christopher Reeve (1952-2004), actor, paralyzed in 1995 from the neck down following a horse fall in a competition
- Maureen Connolly, tennis star, career ended in 1954 by injuries suffered in a collision between her horse and a truck
Historical figures
- Afonso I, king of Portugal (1109-1185), was severely injured in a fall from a horse in 1167 during a battle; he was captured and as ransom, Portugal had to surrender to Castile all conquests made in Galicia in the previous years; they were never again recovered.
- Prince Afonso of Portugal (b. 1475) died in 1491 during a ride near the Tagus river. At the time of his accidental death, Afonso was the heir of Portugal and, through his wife, in line to Castile and Aragon. This one of the reasons why some historians consider that this event was not accidental at all, but a way wished by some Spaniards to limit the potential of rule from Portugal.
- Alexander III, King of Scotland d. 1286, when his horse threw him off a cliff; the long term outcome was increased English influence and the First Scottish War of Independence and the immediate result was a regency because heirs were underage and unborn.
- Al-Aziz - sultan of Egypt, died 1198
- Cambyses II, Persian king - died accidentally in 521 BC, according to Herodotus
- Brian Faulkner, former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
- Francis II, Duke of Brittany ? d. September 9 1488 from a horse riding accident; the long term result was the annexation of Brittany by France, since his heiress, daughter Anne of Brittany was forced into marriage with French King.
- Fulk of Jerusalem - died while hunting in 1143
- Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Brittany and son of Henry II of England, d. August 19 1186 trampled to death by his horse during a tournament; with his death, Plantagenet rule of Brittany was weakened (son Arthur was underage and in future imprisoned by uncle John I of England) - finally decades later, the duchy is passed by Philip II of France to the House of Dreux, descendants of Geoffrey's widow's other marriage.
- Genghis Khan - d. 1227 from injuries resulting from a fall from a horse
- John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut - d. 1236 after his horse fell on him and crushed him
- Isabella of Aragon, wife of king Philip III of France - d. 1271 at 24 from a fall
- John I of Castile d. October 9, 1390, while riding in a fantasia with some of the light horsemen known as the farfanes
- Leopold V of Austria, died December 31, 1194 after falling from his horse at a tournament in Graz.
- Louis II of Hungary - died at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 after falling from his horse.
- Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert Bruce and sister of David II of Scotland ? d. March 2 1316 after a fall from a horse caused premature labour; her son survived to be king Robert II of Scotland
- Mary of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy ? d. 1482 from a horse riding accident; after her death, the Burgundy estates (of which she herself had lost Picardy and duchy of Burgundy) formed a part of Habsburg domains
- Nero Claudius Drusus (in 9 BC), brother of emperor Tiberius and general in Germania Inferior
- Philip Capet, heir of king Louis VI of France ? d. 1131, from a fall from a horse
- Philip of Burgundy, count of Auvergne and heir of Duke Eudes IV of Burgundy - d.1346, from a kick of a farmer's horse; his widow married the king of France, and the succession went to his underage son Philip I of Burgundy who in turn died before begetting children, thus in the end the duchy was taken over by the Valois (Philip II, Duke of Burgundy)
- Pope Urban VI - died 1389 from injuries sustained after falling from a mule.
- Stefan Dragutin, Serbian king, in 1282 broke leg after falling from horse, became limp and so had to give throne to Stefan Milutin; this later provoked a war between Milutin and Dragutin's son Vladislav.
- Theodosius II - Roman emperor, died 450
- Theophylactus of Constantinople - Patriarch of Constantinople, died 956
- Walter de Merton, Lord Chancellor of England - died 1277
- William the Conqueror died aged 60 at the Convent of St. Gervais, near Rouen, France, on 9 September, 1087 from abdominal injuries received from his saddle pommel when he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes.
- William III of England died in 1702 from injuries received after his horse tripped on a molehill.
Fictional characters
- Bonnie Blue Butler, infant daughter of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind
- Gerald O'Hara, father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind
- King Theoden of Rohan, in "The Lord of the Rings". Crushed by his dying horse Snowmane after being struck by the Lord of the Nazgűl during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Died from wounds shortly after.