Jonty Evans and Cooley Rorkes Drift at Badminton Horse Trials earlier this year. Photo: EquusPix
One of eventing’s most popular characters, Irish Olympian Jonty Evans, is in intensive care in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit in Beaumont Hospital following a fall from his crowd funded horse, Cooleys Rorkes Drift, on the cross-country course at Tattersalls International Horse Trials yesterday.
Jonty and Cooley Rorkes Drift were lying in second position having completed their dressage and show jumping in the CIC3*. The accident occurred at fence 19b, the second element of the Horse Sport Ireland Water Complex. Having negotiated the large drop fence into the water, Cooley Rorkes Drift caught the flag on the offset skinny, causing Jonty’s fall.
Jonty made a remarkable come-back after he was left partially paralysed for 2 months when he broke three vertebrae and suffered a brain haemorrhage in an accident while schooling at home in 2014.
An official update was released by Tattersalls International Horse Trials and Country Fair:
"Following further evaluation at Beaumont Hospital, Jonty Evans is in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit and his condition is being monitored and treated."
