Injuries associated with recreational horse riding and changes over the last 20 years: a review

To assess the incidence and distribution of recreational equestrian injuries seen in the Kent and Sussex region and review the available literature on this subject.

This is a retrospective case series with historical controls.

Kent and Sussex region, England.

Injuries related to horses in the recreational setting.

Subjects were selected from our acute injury database. Notes of all patients presenting with horse riding-related injuries between January and December 2010 were reviewed. Skeletal injuries were confirmed using our Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) system. Data were tabulated and grouped using Microsoft Excel software. Statistics were calculated using Graph Pad software.

During the study period, 155 patients presented with a total of 199 injuries related to horses, accounting for 0.3% of all presentations; 69% were soft tissue injuries. The most commonly affected areas were the extremities (77 patients, 49.7%) followed by injuries to the head (38 patients, 24.5%) and trunk (36 patients, 23.2%). Seventeen patients (11%) were admitted. Patients presenting with head injuries suffered significantly more injuries compared to other groups (1.65 compared to 1.4 injuries, p < 0.0002).

A larger number of persons were riding for a longer period of the year compared to previous studies in the United Kingdom. There was also a shift in the patterns of injury seen in this population over the last two to three decades.