Disability horse organisation sued after autistic girl suffers ‘serious’ fall

A court has found a disability organisation “failed” in their duty of care when a 10-year-old autistic girl fell off a horse and broke her hip.

EXCLUSIVE

A horse riding disability organisation “failed” in their duty of care when a severly disabled 10-year-old schoolgirl fell off a horse and broke her hip in a “foreseeable” incident, a court has ruled.

The Riding for the Disabled Association NSW on Wednesday faced the NSW Supreme Court,

the likelihood of the girl possibly falling was “high” as she had previously “become upset” during previous rides.

The girl suffered a right femoral neck fracture after her left foot came loose from the stirrups of the horse, causing her to fall.

Justice Desmond Fagan said two “sidewalkers” should have been assigned to assist the girl while riding.

The court heard how the girl suffers from cerebral palsy, severe global developmental delay and autism.

Costs will be decided at a later court date. Picture: Facebook

“In the absence of that precaution, the probability of the plaintiff falling was high, because of her aforementioned disabilities,” Mr Fagan said.

“If she were to fall, there was a likelihood of her suffering serious harm such as a bone fracture. The burden of the suggested precaution was low.”

The incident occurred in September 2019 at the Irrawang Equestrian Complex near Maitland.

The girl had already attended eight sessions at the centre after being selected for the horse riding program through her school.

The NSW Department of Education was also brought into the proceedings, however, the court found the horse riding was “entirely independent of the school”.

The girl started with the organisation in June 2019. Picture: RDANSW

During cross-examination, one of the instructors in the program told the court sometimes her rides had ended early when she began to “fidget” on the horse and take her foot out of the stirrups.

“She’d be good and then she’d just … had enough,” she told the court.

Justice Fagan said the staff therefore knew the girl’s behaviour was “unpredictably inconsistent” while riding.

“The evidence also shows that when the plaintiff became upset she lost her concentration on the need to keep her feet in the stirrups and to maintain a secure seat in the saddle and correct posture and balance,” he said.

“The unpredictability of behaviour on her part that could easily lead to a fall had been observed on multiple occasions.”

The court ruled in favour of the girl with costs to be decided.

“I am satisfied that the risk of the plaintiff suffering injury by falling from her horse was foreseeable and significant because she needed to keep her feet in the stirrups to maintain balance,” he said.

Originally published as Disability horse organisation sued after autistic girl suffers ‘serious’ fall