Moments from tragedy: Just seconds after this picture was taken, the rider was crushed to death when her horse fell on her

By Andy Dolan


Jo Rugman, 37, fell from her horse at the next fence and was killed as her husband and young daughter stood yards away


Focused and determined, she sails over the fence on the cross-country course.

But Jo Rugman was just seconds from tragedy when this picture was taken.

The mother-of-two fell from her horse at the next fence and was killed as her husband and young daughter stood yards away.


Mrs Rugman, 37, is thought to have been crushed by the horse after the animal clipped the top of the fence and fell on her.

Her death is the first fatality of a rider in the sport of team chasing since its inception in 1974.

Mrs Rugman, an experienced rider who was secretary of the Warwickshire Hunt, was following her three team-mates over a tyre fence at the course on a farm outside Cirencester, Gloucestershire, when her gelding, Fitzwilliam Square, stumbled.

The horse was unhurt, but the seriously injured Mrs Rugman was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

The photograph was given to the Daily Mail with the blessing of her husband John, 40, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers who heads the professional services firm’s regional valuations practice.

He was at the event with their seven-year-old daughter Isabel. The couple’s son Harry, nine, was not there. Mr Rugman was yesterday being comforted by relatives at the family’s £700,000 farmhouse outside Banbury, Oxfordshire.

He said their children were both ‘keen riders’ and added: ‘Jo was a wonderful wife and mother, and an inspiration to her family. She was a gifted horsewoman operating at the top of her game, who will be sorely missed by everyone.’

The seriously injured Mrs Rugman was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where she was pronounced dead a short time later


Mr Rugman said his wife had ‘really connected with a great many people, and it is their support now which is giving me such strength’. In team chasing the teams set off at intervals and race against the clock, the time of the third member of each team being taken as the time of the team.

Many teams use four riders and horses so they can still compete if one horse falls or refuses a fence.

Mrs Rugman’s team, A Class Act, was the second of around 15 teams set to negotiate the course. The event on Sunday, organised by the Vale of White Horse Hunt, was abandoned after the tragedy.

Yesterday team member Jessica Lewis said Mr Rugman had persuaded the team to keep competing in his wife’s honour.

Miss Lewis, speaking on behalf of team-mates Andrew Shipley and Charlotte Alexander, said: ‘Jo was a beautiful and brave rider, and fiercely competitive. She was always smiling and was a true team player.

‘The team will never be the same without her, but in our hearts we know she will always be with us.’

Sam Butler, joint master of the Warwickshire Hunt, said Mrs Rugman was ‘as good on a horse as anyone I know in Warwickshire’.

Sunday’s event was a qualifier for the national championships and attracted competitors from across the country.

Minutes before the tragedy involving Mrs Rugman, a horse snapped a leg bone while galloping between fences and had to be put down.


Source:dailymail

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From the stalls to the stage, the horses taking part in world-first dance show

By Daily Mail Reporter


Pushing boundaries: French horse trainer Bartabas is bringing live horses on stage at Sadler's Wells


In a theatre scene as crowded as London's, producers are always trying to out-innovate. Now, Sadler's Wells may have just raised the bar, with real horses treading the boards.

Debuting this week, The Centaur And The Animal is the first London performance by 53 year-old French horse trainer Bartabas.

Four horses will take to the stage at the renowned dance theatre for a performance with dancer Ko Murobushi. The set aims to combine equestrian discipline with butoh, a Japanese dance style.


The performers say they aim to show how human society has moved away from the natural world.

Dark sets, whispered narration and strange choreography characterise a performance that theatre criticism website theartsdesk.com described as 'strange and potent.'

‘I don’t make this show to “show” horses – it’s to dive into the depths of the relationship between man and horse,' said Bartabas. 'It’s about working together.

'Because you know horses for years and years, you know how to listen – the ideas come from the horse. When you truly work with animals you don’t control, you hear the body and the breathing. The horse tells me when something is not working.’

Dressage: The Centaur And The Animal follows the interaction between man and horse


While not a household name, Bartabas is well-known in horse training circles. For 25 years he has been perfecting his own brand of equestrian theatre, a fusion of classical dressage and modern conceptual dance.

His Parisian-based company comprises 35 horses, and a 40-strong company of riders and stable boys to tend to them. He hosts equine shows all year round at his own revolving theatre, complete with bar and restaurant.

‘The horse is like music,’ Bartabas told the Metro. ‘The instrument doesn’t change, you just spend a lifetime learning to play it better.’


Master: Bartabas has spent 25 years performing his equestrian performances, which are a fusion of classical dressage and modern dance


Source:dailymail

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I didn't think you'd miss a hair or three! Cheeky crow feathers his nest at horse's expense

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Mind the crow's feet: Retired police photographer David Offord captured this jackdaw pinching hair from a horse's back while on holiday in Buston, near Norwich, Norfolk


When you’ve got a young brood to look after, home improvements have to be done on the hop.

So this determined jackdaw took a plucky approach to feathering its family nest.

The cheeky crow was caught pinching hair from the backs of unsuspecting horses to make a comfortable home for its chicks.

Retired police photographer David Offord captured the bird on camera while on holiday in Buston, near Norwich, Norfolk – then searched for three days until he found its cosy hair-lined nest on top of a chimney on a nearby home.

The 66-year-old, from Stowmarket, Suffolk, said: 'I'm always on the look out. I saw this jackdaw landing on the horses back and thought it was picking insects off it or something.

'But then I saw it was picking up hair. It took me two or three days to work out where it was taking the hair to and then I found the nest on the top of a chimney.

'The horse didn't seem too bothered at all so it must not hurt it too much.'


source: dailymail

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