Olympian Stuart Tinney mourns Olivia Inglis as ‘star of the future’

Tributes for rising equestrian star who died in a tragic showjumping accident.

Olympian mourns ‘future star‘

An Australian Olympian has paid tribute to the “promising” and “very dedicated” rising equestrian star Olivia Inglis, who died in a showjumping accident at the weekend.

Stuart Tinney, who won gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and represented the nation again in Athens, was competing in the same class as the 17-year-old when the “freak accident” happened at the Scone Horse Trials in the Hunter Valley on Sunday.

Tinney was waiting in the stalls when Olivia’s horse slipped and fell after catching its knee on a fence less than halfway into the cross-country course. Olivia was caught beneath the horse and could not be revived.

A devastated Tinney told The Australian last night that “horse riding is a dangerous sport ... we fall off occasionally”. Fatal accidents, however, are “very rare”.

Tinney, whose daughter is Olivia’s age and rode in the same class, praised the promising rider as “doing well for her age and (being) very dedicated” to the sport “and to the horses”.

Olivia, who was riding the family horse Coriolanus, was due to collect a 2015 school championship ribbon at the Annual Equestrian Awards tomorrow night as co-captain of the equestrian team at Frensham girls school in the NSW Southern Highlands. The Inglis family, part of the 150-year-old bloodstock auction dynasty, is prominent in the school’s equestrian community. Olivia’s sisters Alexandra and Antoinette also compete.

Coriolanus, who was yesterday grazing in a paddock under veterinary supervision but with no obvious broken bones, had also been ridden in events by Olivia’s mother and trainer, Charlotte.

The Frensham school community is mourning the loss of the “compassionate and quietly considerate” Year 12 student.

In eventing circles, Olivia was known as a careful rider, “mature beyond her years”, according to one competitor, and measured with her decision-making. “She was very talented,” said one coach who asked not to be named.

“And she had grown up beyond her years — she was the oldest kid in her family, and it was apparent she really led the way.”

Olivia had been a fixture in eventing circles and the NSW equestrian community for more than a decade, as a member of the NSW Junior Team. In recent months, she had moved up to compete in two-star rated events, among a handful of teenagers in a level of competition dominated by more mature riders.

Equestrian Australia chairwoman Judy Fasher said yesterday said Olivia “was one of the best performers at inter-school level”. Trainer Lee Freedman and jockey Kathy O’Hara were among the racing identities who took to Twitter to express their condolences to the family as British magazine Horse and Hound wrote yesterday that the eventing world was “in shock”.

William Inglis & Sons director Jonathan D’Arcy said the family did not wish to comment. Funeral arrangements have not been set although it’s understood a service on Monday is being considered.