| Horse-Related Injury is Inevitable But Serious Injury is Rare: Results of the
Pacific Northwest Horse Enthusiast Survey
Tuesday Pearson, BS, Kerry Wiger, RN, Brian Diggs, PhD., and John C. Mayberry, MD
Oregon Health and Science University
Introduction: Horse-related injury is commonly seen at trauma centers, particularly in non-urban regions.
The severity of injury is frequently high, thus caregivers at trauma centers may have the impression that
horse-related activity is dangerous. But because many riders spend many hours in contact with horses, we
hypothesized that the risk of serious injury per unit time is actually quite low.
Methods: Members of Pacific Northwest horse clubs and individual enthusiasts were surveyed regarding their
horse contact time, types of activities, and injuries over their entire riding career. Serious injury was
defined by hospitalization or the development of disability.
Results: 679 riders with a median age of 44 years (range 6 to 83) reported a median of 20 hours of horse
contact per month with a mean of 24 years (range 1 to 75 years) experience. 80% reported one or more
injuries but only 21 % reported serious injuries. The risk of any injury was 1.68 per 10,000 hours while
the risk of serious injury was only .28 per 10,000 hours. Activities associated with injury in univariant
analysis included dressage (p = .006), driving (p = .025), hunting/jumping (p = .001), and schooling
(p = .001), but only hunting/jumping (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-3.8) and schooling (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-3.4) were
independently associated with injury (p=.01).
Conclusion: We conclude that while injury due to contact with horses is nearly inevitable for the average
horse enthusiast, serious injury is still quite rare. Equestrians who school horses or hunt/jump are at
highest risk.
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