A 23-year-old female rider has been killed in a fall while competing in a cross-country equestrian trial.

Emma Jonathan was taking part in the Mitsubishi Motors Hartpury Horse Trials at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire when she died.

A Hartpury College spokeswoman said Miss Jonathan was on a nine-year-old mare called El Nino when she fell at fence 19 of the course.

The Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips took part in the event on Friday.

Police said the exact circumstances of the death were unknown and that the coroner Zimbabwe inflation at 2,200,000% ...
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'Deepest sympathy'

The college spokeswoman said: "There was a doctor in attendance at the time of the fall and a full paramedic team was present within moments of the accident."

The three-day event is set to end on Sunday.

The college is described on its website as having an international reputation for the excellence of its equestrian centre.

It says: "In addition to being one of the country's leading equine educational establishments, the centre also successfully hosts a number of international events, which includes the annual Mitsubishi Motors Hartpury Horse Trials."

News of Miss Jonathan's death was greeted with sadness in Hong Kong, where many of Britain's top riders are competing for medals in the equestrian events at the Beijing Olympic Games.

BBC pundit and four-time Olympic silver medallist Ian Stark said he had worked with committees to raise safety levels and said: "There's a lot of research gone into making the sport safer. But the sport is high risk. Everyone knows that - you get on a horse and you don't know how it will react."

(BBC)

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