‘I tried to make my legs move but they would not’

Horse trainer Deirdre Bourns told the High Court how she tried to get up and move her legs after she was trampled by a horse but she could not.

Mrs Bourns, who is paralysed from the chest down, said the most awful memory after the accident two years ago was when she was wheeled into a hospital ward and she saw the word ‘spinal unit’ on the door. “That is when I realised I was in trouble,” she told Mr Justice Kevin Cross.

Mrs Bourns, mother of international showjumper Andrew Bourns was left tetraplegic after an out-of-control four-year-old horse knocked her down and trampled on her at a showjumping event in Cavan. The horse, Miss Red, was being warmed up before an indoors championships competition.

Mrs Bourns, of Lisbeg Farms, Eyrecourt, Co Galway, has sued the Showjumping Association of Ireland trading as Showjumping Ireland of Osberstown, Naas, Co Kildare; Cavan Equestrian Centre Ltd, owner of Cavan Equestrian Centre, Latt, Co Cavan and horse rider Hayley Dunne, Old Graigue, Maynooth, Co Kildare.

All defendants deny the claims against them.

Mrs Bourns said she was in the centre of the arena, which was the safe place to be. She said she felt a very sudden impact and remembered saying “oh” and a chestnut horse passing her on her right side. Her next memory was of her head being cupped and a man telling her she would be fine.

“My instant reaction was to get up. I tried but I could not. In the periphery of my eye I could see my legs and boots. I tried to make them move and they would not, so I became very, very upset.”

After talks between the sides in the court yesterday, Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told there had been a significant development in the case and it could be adjourned for one month.