They think maybe the horse had a heart attack and the rider died from being thrown when the horse collapsed. Such a tragedy for the rider and her family.
How heartbreaking. My condolences to her family and friends
Yes, saw this going around on facebook last night. How sad. There was one report that said the police were looking in to it being ‘foul play’. I really hope whatever it was that the girl and horse were not in pain long.
Tragedy
Thoughts are with the family and friends.
SO incredibly sad 
Oh, how sad. Although I take all the “full speed” comments from bystanders with a grain of salt.
can’t spell
[QUOTE=Anne FS;7893002]
Oh, how sad. Although I take all the “full speed” comments from bystanders with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE]
Someone posted this on a FB group I follow and another person commented about how “full speed” to people who don’t ride can be anything - something to the effect that her friends think she’s going fast when she’s just trotting.
[QUOTE=Anne FS;7893002]
Oh, how sad. Although I take all the “full speed” comments from bystanders with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE]
The quality of reporting on this is comical. It the comments about what people saw are ridiculous. The report has changed since it originally came out because they originally said that she was riding a race horse as it it used to race when it was 2 or 3 and now the horse is 18 and still a race horse? Yeah right.
No one ever said reporters get it right the first time. By the time they do, there are fifty versions out there.
M y sincere condolences to the family.
Very sad and especially for the young age of the girl.
The reporting, SW ranches is not SW Florida, it is SE Florida, (Broward County). Davie is a horsey community with many trails. I live about an hour north. The bystanders observed she was going fast. The canals there are on edge of Everglades and have a lot of wildlife including alligators, which can take a huge splash and scare a horse. It is possible the horse spooked took off and then anything could have happened including a trip at speed. Very sad and heart goes out to her family.
Stating that horse and rider were killed is a little misleading. They should say dead, not killed.
Maybe it spooked and bolted?
Maybe. Perhaps more information will come forward. I do not ride alone along the canals. I have seen horses spook and slide down the bank into them. It could have been anything. The second rider death on a trail this week in S FL, the other was in Wellington a few days ago. This one is unusual because horse and rider both died.
My prayers.
Wow, so tragic. I hope it wasn’t foul play. One, that would suck even more, two, I would like to believe a rider on a horse could get away from bad guys.
Whatever the cause, I hope her family has all the love and support they will need.
[QUOTE=AmarachAcres;7893211]
Wow, so tragic. I hope it wasn’t foul play. One, that would suck even more, two, I would like to believe a rider on a horse could get away from bad guys.
Whatever the cause, I hope her family has all the love and support they will need.[/QUOTE]
My imagination just can’t come up with a plausible “foul play” scenario though. Unless that term includes things such as “jerks with loud trucks and horns or pellet rifles spooking the horse”. But there were no reports of injury, like a gunshot wound or the likes. Any other ideas on what foul play might have happened? I know they aren’t suggesting they believe it WAS foul play at this point. Just curious if it’s even possible that it was.
Oh, damn. So terribly terribly sad.
I rode my pony up and down that stretch of road as a kid.
I will be the evil person to say this. I hope this is not a case that a helmet would have prevented this horribly tragic death. (And no, I have no idea if she was wearing one or not.)
I have a few friends and acquaintances that live in the Ranches area. A few through a friend of a friend know some of the family. One of the things I’ve heard was that she was not supposed to be over in that area. She’d told her family she was just going around the block but was on the other side of the road from where she was thought to be. We were all youthful and free spirits who galloped their horses with nary a worry at one time and even in this tragic situation I would like to believe she went over to gallop on her horse and something whether it was a trip or cardiac event on the horses part went wrong and that it was quick and neither suffered.
