Clonmel inquest hears how well known horse trainer's wife dies in fall from horse

Ballynonty trainer Edward O'Grady has described how he rushed to help his wife after she fell with her horse in a hunting accident but immediately thought that she was dead.

An inquest has found that Maria O'Grady (54) from Killeens, Ballynonty, died as a result of severe crush injuries to her chest and abdomen, sustained during a hunt at Grantstown, Tipperary, on November 25 last.

The coroner's court in Clonmel heard on Friday how hunt members and then paramedics tried to keep Ms O'Grady, mother of two girls, alive after her horse fell on top of her after failing to clear a wall, but she was unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Both of her daughters were among 30-40 members of the Tipperary Hunt who were taking part in the hunt at the time, as was her husband, the multiple Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer Edward O'Grady.

In a deposition to the inquest, Mr O'Grady said the hunt started at about 11am on that Saturday at Thomastown and, sometime around 1pm, they came upon a wall onto a road.

Three or four people jumped the wall with their horses and then Maria attempted to do the same, but her horse failed to negotiate it and turned over on the landing side, falling on top of her. "She couldn't get clear," he said, describing it as a rotational fall.

"I jumped off my horse and was probably the first to get to her and my immediate impression was that she was dead," Mr O'Grady said.

Other members of the hunt came to her aid and performed CPR for about 20 minutes until the first ambulance arrived, and paramedics then worked on Ms O'Grady for another 20 or 30 minutes. The air ambulance was also due to arrive. "But it was too late, Maria was dead at that stage."

He identified his wife's body to the gardaí at 2.02pm.

The horse involved was Maria's own horse and had never given her a fall in the preceding five years she had owned him.

Another hunt member, Kim Ronan, said Maria was "unresponsive" after the fall and she started to perform chest compressions on her, but couldn't get any air into her airways because her jaw seemed to be locked.

Alan Murphy was directly behind Maria O'Grady when her horse attempted to jump the wall, and saw the horse hit the wall above his knee, "causing a full rotational fall. Maria stayed with the horse and the horse landed on top of her. She never moved."

Paramedic David Long said he arrived in the second ambulance to reach the scene, when CPR was already going on and other paramedics were ventilating the patient but having difficulty with her airway. After about 40 minutes, CPR was stopped and he stood down the air ambulance which was on its way.

"The family were given some privacy."

Garda Shane Kiely recalled being asked to clear the pitch at nearby Kilfeacle Rugby Club, to allow the air ambulance to land, before being sent to the scene of the accident as the situation was "grave". On arrival, he saw members of the hunt who were "clearly distraught" and the paramedic told him there was no sign of life and the woman was deceased.

Consultant pathologist Dr Rob Landers performed an autopsy at University Hospital Waterford the following day and said Ms O'Grady suffered multiple rib injuries which caused a "massive internal bleed" into the chest cavity as well as a ruptured spleen and left kidney.

He said the cause of death was severe chest and abdominal crush injuries.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, in line with the medical evidence.

The coroner, Paul Morris, offered his condolences to Ms O'Grady's husband, daughters and friends, as did the jury and Inspector James White on behalf of the gardaí.

"Unfortunately," Mr Morris said, "sporting endeavours as pleasurable as a hunt do have their inherent risks and it's tragic that, in this instance, in the accident which occurred Maria sustained fatal injuries."