Characteristics of equestrian accidents and injuries leading to permanent medical impairment.

The fact that females face nearly three times the injury risk of males, and riders aged 21-40 had the highest injury risk while younger riders (Luke KL, McAdie T, Smith BP, Warren-Smith AK. New insights into ridden horse behaviour, horse welfare and horse-related safety. Appl Anim Behav Sci. 2022;246:105539.); (Havlik HS. Equestrian sport-related injuries: a review of current literature. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2010;9(5):299-302.); (Samuels K, Bettis A, Davenport DL, Bernard AC. Occupational vs. non-occupational equestrians: Differences in demographics and injury patterns. Injury. 2022;53(1):171-5.); (Gharooni A-A, Anwar F, Ramdeep R, Mee H. Severe equestrian injuries: A seven-year review of admissions to a UK major trauma centre. Trauma. 2023;25(1):41-7.); (Hasler RM, Gyssler L, Benneker L, Martinolli L, Schotzau A, Zimmermann H, et al. Protective and risk factors in amateur equestrians and description of injury patterns: A retrospective data analysis and a case - control survey. J Trauma Manag Outcomes. 2011;5:4.); (Meredith L, Brolin K, Ekman R, Thomson R. Analyses of injuries to equestrians in a Swedish district over a 16-year period. Translational Sports Med. 2019;2:270-8.) had a lower risk, indicates that preventive efforts should target both older and female riders. Injuries predominantly resulting in PMI involve upper and lower extremities, however, to prevent the most serious injuries significantly affecting a rider's daily life, measures preventing head and spinal cord neck injuries, must be implemented. Head injures remain the most frequent, serious and most significant group of injuries to prevent and mitigate, within equestrian sports.