in the night? Colic or something of the like? How sad 
" Three horses have now been confirmed to have been euthanised following incidents at Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials, which took place from September 14–18 in Oxfordshire, UK.
British-based Kiwi competitor Samantha Lissington suffered a horse fall at 12B, the Spinney Cottages, with Sharon Honiss’s nine-year-old Ricker Ridge Ricochet in the prestigious eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S, in which they were one of the earliest pairs out on course. After a hold and some deliberation, during which Samantha was transferred to hospital, organisers opted to remove this B element from the combination. Later on, it was confirmed that the talented young mare, who was making her second start at the four-star level after finishing third in the CCI4*-S at Kilguilkey, had been euthanised.
“It is with great sadness we announce that following immediate veterinary treatment Ricker Ridge Ricochet, ridden by Samantha Lissington passed away after a fall at fence 12 today,” added the statement. “Our thoughts are with all connections at this sad time.”
Fanta Boy , the twelve-year-old top-level partner of Great Britain’s George Goss (née Spence), was also confirmed to have died on Saturday night after successfully completing the CCI4*-L course without jumping penalties.
“With a broken heart I can confirm that very sadly our Fanta Boy passed away late into the night on Saturday. He was an incredible horse and I will cherish the memories I’ve shared with him and his wonderful owners, Nicky [Cooper] and Lucy [Fleming],” said George in a statement on her social media. “Gallop free my very special boy.”
Equador III , the ride of Great Britain’s Thomas Martin , was also euthanised after a rotational fall in the CCI4*-L.
“This is a hard pill to swallow,” wrote 25-year-old Thomas, who was making his CCI4*-L debut with the gelding, in a statement on Instagram. “Me and Eddie had a rotational fall at Blenheim yesterday and unfortunately Eddie sustained a leg injury. Due to that leg injury we had to make the tough decision this morning to put him to rest.”
He continued his statement with a heartfelt letter to the horse, with whom he’d taken his first steps into the upper levels of eventing:
“Dear Eddie,
You have came along way since that £5 purchase 6 years ago, what was quite an uncertain time for you, through to you turning into my horse of a life time. We have been there through many highs and you’ve seen me through plenty of lows yet you never once wavered. I’m so proud of what we achieved. Although we did not make our £5 to 5* we did give it a bloody good go and had all the fun along the way. Your were nothing but heart and you are going to be sorely missed by not only me but by the whole of team Martin and many others that’s you touched along the way. It’s just not going to be the same on the yard with out you. RIP the bestest good boy I could of ever asked for. Love you for ever.”
All of us at Team EN extend our most heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the connections of these remarkable horses, and wish Sam Lissington a speedy recovery."
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My heart just dropped when I saw the headline. Two of the deaths were from horse falls on XC.
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oh that is bad. I hope there are people looking into what might have happened that day?
One had to be PTS on the course. The fence was two offset houses and a let-up fence before some more technical ones later on the course. She was a lovely mare who caught my eye as she passed our fence going out. Georgie Goss lost hers during the night, after the competition had finished. Thomas Martin euthanised his horse the following day so the injury wasn’t apparently so serious on the day. There will, of course, be a review of what happened because there always is.
Except he said it was a rotational fall; unless shown otherwise, I’m going to connect the euthanization and the fall.
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Awful. And 2/3 were rotational falls - it’s unclear what happened to Fanta’s Boy so it’s hard to say if that one was competition related. Do we know who the course designer was for the event? I wonder if either fall happened at a fence with any sort of frangible technology.
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On the day, being there, one horse tragically had to be euthanised on the course after a fall at a simple off-set houses, a let up fence, not a difficult technical one. There were no other serious falls apparent. Horses walked off the course if they fell. Most penalties were run outs and time.
If it were a simple offset, why did they decide to remove the B element after the fatality? That seems to strongly indicate something was amiss, that the fence was NOT in execution simple regardless of intention, else why would they change it?
And as has been pointed out, the Equador III fatality was after a rotational fall. Surely that should be immediately apparent as a significant concern, even if no one died on the spot.
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It was a simple fence but it was on a turn in the shade. Very bizarre how that fence cause a death and a rider serious fall.
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Normally, If there’s some kind of accident human or equine, they will pull a fence off course out of an abundance of caution.
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Here’s what I find bizarre about the H and H article – two horses are described as “passing away,” while one is described as being euthed. Am I paying too much attention to the language here? Were all horses euthanized or did some die a natural death?
It sounds like one was euthanized on course due to his injury, another horse passed away in the night from natural causes (my first instinct would be a cardiac-related event, but, again, we must await more details), and the third horse sustained leg injury which, after a night’s rest/observation, was deemed to warrant him being euthanized.
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Out of curiosity, does anyone watch the livestream again to look for answers to this type of question? Not meaning anyone official, meaning the people on this thread
I would normally, but it has been cut from the feed I believe. I now screen record the replays of falls on livestreams to save on my phone to make sure video is available for us after the event.
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forward to 8:50 in this clip:
Oh my.
According to her Facebook, Sam only broke a few ribs and lacerated her liver. Given the video though, I would have expected far worse.
And the majority are TB if not all.
Oh my god I cannot unsee that. That poor horse. 
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Looks like it’s been cut out of even that video.
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