Tragedy as teen equestrian dies after horse falls on her during competition
The youngster was killed after she was knocked off her horse and fell on her head.
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A 15-year-old horse rider has died during a competition in the US after she was knocked off her horse and fell on her head.
Hannah Serfass, an aspiring equestrian, was competing at the Fox Lea Farm Spring Concours I in Venice, around 113 kilometres (70 miles) from Tampa, Florida.
She saw her horse "trip and suffer a rotational fall", the US Equestrian Federation said in a statement.
Ms Serfass had just completely approximately 50 percent of the course in a jumper event before she tried to make the sixth jump.
The animal landed successfully, but fell moments after landing.
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The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said: "The horse landed the jump successfully and took two or three steps/gallops toward the next hurdle and for unknown reasons planted its left foot, which caused the horse to lean down significantly towards its left front hoof.
"This action caused the rider to then topple forward and off the horse in the same direction and onto the ground.
"The horse then continued to fall in the same direction falling over and onto the rider's head on the ground."
The equestrian federation added that the fall of the horse was "unrelated to a jumping effort".
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Ms Serfass was attended to by medical staff at Fox Lea Farm and was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The teenager's horse, Quaxx 2, is described as a 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding and was not injured in the incident.
Ms Serfass was known for her love of horse riding and was known in the community as an up-and-coming rider.
Her work ethic and dedication to the craft was recognised by the equestrian federation.
Fox Lea Farm released its own statement, sending its "sincere condolences to the family, trainer, friends, and the whole equestrian community".
It added: "We are all heartbroken."
As a result of the incident, the equestrian federation announced it would review the accident in order to "learn what we can do to minimize risk and increase safety in equestrian sport".
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