Samantha Cawkwell, 31, died Sunday after being kicked in the head by one of her stallions. Cawkwell was a talented dressage rider who ran a company called Ultimate Dressage Horse with her boyfriend, and had been riding ever since she was a small child, her father told Daily Mail.
The incident occurred as Cawkwell was bringing one of her stallions in for the night from a field by her home near Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, UK. The stallion reportedly kicked out as she was bringing him in, and Cawkwell suffered massive blows to the head and neck. She was found in the field by her home and transported to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Via Country Stud Farm/ Facebook
“She started riding horses as soon as she could walk,” Cawkwell’s father told Daily Mail. “She has always been around horses…it was just what she enjoyed doing, and it would have gone as far as it would have taken her.”
Cawkwell was a Grand Prix level rider, and was planning to compete in the Badminton Dressage Championships in Gloucestershire next week.
Cawkwell’s stepmother told the paper that the competition next week “was the one [Samantha] had been waiting for with her horse. But she’s not going to get there, and that’s what’s really heartbreaking.”