Teenage equestrian star 'crushed' by her pony, inquest hears

A talented teenage equestrian was killed by her pony after it somersaulted and landed on top of her at the family’s farm, a coroner has heard.

Iona Sclater, 15, the daughter of a former British Army captain, was attempting to jump a 1.32 metre hay bale, when her pony, Jack, clipped the front of it.

The schoolgirl landed on her stomach and the pony flipped and crushed her, an inquest at Huntingdon, Cambs, heard.

Iona was riding in a field on the family’s farm in Royston, Hertfordshire, with one of her two sisters when the accident happened on August 11.

Family members, paramedics and an air ambulance rushed to the scene but despite best efforts Iona was sadly pronounced dead at 12.36pm.

Some of the incident was captured on an iPhone which was subsequently handed over to the police.

Paul Rees, from the East of England Air Ambulance Service, described how Iona was in cardiac arrest when he arrived at the scene but could not regain her circulation.

A post-mortem concluded that the cause of Iona's death was a crush injury to the chest.

Pathologist Dr Curtis Offiah said the injury was "severe enough" to be the primary cause of death.

Simon Milbur, the assistant coroner, heard that Iona's family were keen horse and pony riders and that Iona was an "accomplished rider" who competed at a national level.

She had been long-listed for the 2017 and 2019 pony European Championships.

Mr Milbur concluded that Iona had died as a result of a tragic accident.

He said: "Iona suffered a fatal crush injury caused when the horse she was riding landed on top of her following a fall.

"The fall would have been unintentional and in those circumstances I find that, very tragically indeed, Iona died as a result of an accident."

Iona had ridden Jack for four years and had described him as a “legend” who had been the “most amazing loyal pony” to her.

She had been preparing to stop riding him competitively as she moved from ponies to horses and had made a video tribute of their time together just 24 hours before she died.

The “beautiful” video was shared on Facebook by her mother, Hetty, 48, who said: “I know she felt she was saying goodbye to Jack but we feel it is a last goodbye to all of us. We will be keeping Jack forever in her memory.”

Mrs Sclater is a former eventing champion while Iona's father, Charles, is a former Army captain who now works for Defra.

British Eventing had previously described the teenager as an "exceptionally talented and dedicated young event rider".