I also find it interesting how people ( both riders and non riders) think about the risk that equestrians take. I remember people asking me if I was going to give up riding after a particularly bad fall, they just couldn’t understand why I took the risk. I replied that if I had been in a car accident they wouldn’t expect me to stop driving, and there is a greater risk for death or injury driving a car .
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Yes, I would imagine statistically it is riskier to drive to the barn than it is to ride once you get there. But a car accident probably would not produce as many headlines.
Right off the top of my head, I can think of at least two people who passed away in car accidents on the way to horse shows in the last decade or two. But everybody still drove to and from the horse show the next day.
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Yeah, this is up there with people who say they are terrified to fly, even when they know that statistically the most dangerous part of the journey is the drive to and from the airport.
Statistically it’s almost impossible to die on a commercial flight on a standard larger passenger aircraft, run by a major airline, in the U.S.
Driving on the roads, however … 
Because a fatal car accident is so common.
I don’t know the name of the bias built into this. News media report on types of accidents that are not common. This sad story has gotten national attention because it is so rare, and the circumstances so unusual.
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