ID :
186761
Mon, 06/06/2011 - 17:22
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/186761
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NSW student who died was riding racehorse
A teenager who died during a jillaroo course in western NSW had told her mother her horse was difficult to handle and disliked by other students, a coroner has heard.
Sarah Waugh, 18, who died in March 2009 when Dargo bolted, was not the first to have fallen off the animal during the practical riding unit at Dubbo TAFE.
An inquest into her death, which began at Glebe Coroner's Court on Monday, was told Dargo was in fact a racehorse named Snakey Thought who had competed just six weeks before the accident.
Donna Ward, counsel assisting the coroner, said evidence would suggest the college had assessed the animal as being suitable for the Certificate 2 Agriculture course and its owner, Glenn Manton, had also vouched for it. But this was in dispute, she said.
She said the inquiry would look at why Ms Waugh, a high-achiever from Newcastle, fell during her final lesson and what contributed to the tragedy.
Her mother, Juliana Waugh, said her daughter had never owned a horse but estimated she had had about 50 riding lessons over the years.
At one point the family had leased a 12-year-old former racehorse called Arnie for six months.
Juliana Waugh said her daughter had previously told her Dargo had been described at TAFE as "nervy" and "jumped at the slightest thing".
"The other students don't like him, he's a bit difficult to handle but I think they just don't understand him," the teenager had said.
One girl "didn't feel safe on him and said she would never ride him again".
On their last day of training, the instructor and four students took their horses to a paddock and tried trotting in a troop-like formation.
Ms Waugh was seen to fall behind the line and evidence suggests one of her feet was out of the stirrup, the inquest heard.
"For some reason, evidence suggests Dargo could not be slowed and could not be made to turn," Ms Ward said.
Bill Aldridge, who was riding nearby, said he saw Ms Waugh's horse gallop past the group and she was "leaning right forward", holding its main and the reins.
The instructor, Sarah Falkiner, yelled at her to "pull it up".
Ms Waugh screamed back: "I can't."
The horse accelerated, Mr Aldridge said, describing the moment as "terrifying". He said he had never seen a horse run so fast other than at the races.
Ms Waugh's fall was obscured by a cloud of dust, according to witnesses, who reported next seeing a "horse without a rider".
Fellow pupil Tahlia Peterson told the inquest she had witnessed an earlier incident with Dargo in which a girl named Lucy Piec "bailed out on to the ground".
"Dargo was just going a bit fast," she said, adding that Ms Piec climbed back in the saddle only to fall off again minutes later.
Ms Peterson said under cross-examination she did not know at the time Dargo was a racehorse and thought it odd he was used in a course for beginner riders.
"He would be educated to run ... if he had just come off the track," she said.
Ms Ward said coroner Sharon Freund would hear evidence that horse-riding was an inherently dangerous activity and that the industry was unregulated.
Sarah Waugh, 18, who died in March 2009 when Dargo bolted, was not the first to have fallen off the animal during the practical riding unit at Dubbo TAFE.
An inquest into her death, which began at Glebe Coroner's Court on Monday, was told Dargo was in fact a racehorse named Snakey Thought who had competed just six weeks before the accident.
Donna Ward, counsel assisting the coroner, said evidence would suggest the college had assessed the animal as being suitable for the Certificate 2 Agriculture course and its owner, Glenn Manton, had also vouched for it. But this was in dispute, she said.
She said the inquiry would look at why Ms Waugh, a high-achiever from Newcastle, fell during her final lesson and what contributed to the tragedy.
Her mother, Juliana Waugh, said her daughter had never owned a horse but estimated she had had about 50 riding lessons over the years.
At one point the family had leased a 12-year-old former racehorse called Arnie for six months.
Juliana Waugh said her daughter had previously told her Dargo had been described at TAFE as "nervy" and "jumped at the slightest thing".
"The other students don't like him, he's a bit difficult to handle but I think they just don't understand him," the teenager had said.
One girl "didn't feel safe on him and said she would never ride him again".
On their last day of training, the instructor and four students took their horses to a paddock and tried trotting in a troop-like formation.
Ms Waugh was seen to fall behind the line and evidence suggests one of her feet was out of the stirrup, the inquest heard.
"For some reason, evidence suggests Dargo could not be slowed and could not be made to turn," Ms Ward said.
Bill Aldridge, who was riding nearby, said he saw Ms Waugh's horse gallop past the group and she was "leaning right forward", holding its main and the reins.
The instructor, Sarah Falkiner, yelled at her to "pull it up".
Ms Waugh screamed back: "I can't."
The horse accelerated, Mr Aldridge said, describing the moment as "terrifying". He said he had never seen a horse run so fast other than at the races.
Ms Waugh's fall was obscured by a cloud of dust, according to witnesses, who reported next seeing a "horse without a rider".
Fellow pupil Tahlia Peterson told the inquest she had witnessed an earlier incident with Dargo in which a girl named Lucy Piec "bailed out on to the ground".
"Dargo was just going a bit fast," she said, adding that Ms Piec climbed back in the saddle only to fall off again minutes later.
Ms Peterson said under cross-examination she did not know at the time Dargo was a racehorse and thought it odd he was used in a course for beginner riders.
"He would be educated to run ... if he had just come off the track," she said.
Ms Ward said coroner Sharon Freund would hear evidence that horse-riding was an inherently dangerous activity and that the industry was unregulated.
