[Joanne]

Terrible accident as reported by Eurodressage.

[caballero]

I saw the link in your thread over in the driving section.

I could not fail to notice this

At the hospital he was diagnosed with multiple skull fractures and two broken vertebrae in his back amongst other broken bones. While Arts is conscious, but his head injuries are the most concern.

right next to a photo of him riding without a helmet.

So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he was not wearing one either when he fell off the cart (or whatever happened in the accident).

Wishing him a speedy recovery.

[Crockpot]

Sorry to hear this. Hope he has a full recovery.

Thumbs down to caballero

[Velvet]

Who is Willy Arts?

[dudleyc]

Who is Willy Arts?

http://www.revitavet.com/Pages/WillyArts.html

A very famous young horse trainer from Holland. IMO, Prince was his most famous ride - later taken over by Steffen Peters.

[caballero]

Thumbs down to caballero

Yeah, we shouldn't ask the obvious questions.......or make the obvious inferences from the information at hand.

[2tempe]

Yeah, we shouldn't ask the obvious questions.......or make the obvious inferences from the information at hand.

Seems to me there is a time and place to SPECULATE on the specifics; really it's not now.
Thoughts and prayers to Willy and all his connections. They have some lovely horses coming out of that ranch.

[merrygoround]

http://www.eurodressage.com/equestri...riage-accident

[NRB]

Who is Willy Arts?

Velvet I thought you were a DQ. Works for DG Bar Ranch, young horses, travels gives clinics etc.

[Bristol Bay]

In CA, DG Bar ranch is probably the most well-known and prestigious breeding operation for DWBs. He is the head trainer there and ubiquitous at the big horse shows.

You often see advice given to people who can't ride anymore or have lost their nerve, that they should take up driving. Driving enthusiasts chime in with how much fun it is, Dobbin loves it, etc. Then sandwiched in between all the gushing is usually some Debbie Downer pointing out how deadly driving accidents are. Well, here's why.

This is awful news and it would be a huge loss to the sport if he were to be out of commission. I hope he pulls through.

[ThreeFigs]

Ugh. It must have been a terrible wreck. Prayers and well-wishes for him.

[Bogey2]

Oh no, prayers for Willy. I hope he is going to be o.k.

[Manahmanah]

I wish him a speedy recovery.

[oreobob]

DG Bar ranch FB post this morning says he is holding steady and is still stable.

Sending healing thoughts.

[arabiansrock]

Jingles for Willy!!! I met him shortly after he came to the US. Let me tell you, he was a hit from the minute he landed in America. Very high energy, very dedicated to his horses. And extremely talented. Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

[danceronice]

You often see advice given to people who can't ride anymore or have lost their nerve, that they should take up driving. Driving enthusiasts chime in with how much fun it is, Dobbin loves it, etc. Then sandwiched in between all the gushing is usually some Debbie Downer pointing out how deadly driving accidents are. Well, here's why.

Driving actually scares me more than riding and this is why! I've felt more out of control of my own safety in carts and carriages than I have on a horse (and actually saw a pretty horrific crack-up when a driver was thrown from a tourist carriage he was driving where I went to college--he was training a new young team and they bolted, with him getting thrown into the street.) I hope Mr. Arts makes a full recovery.

[Bluey]

Driving actually scares me more than riding and this is why! I've felt more out of control of my own safety in carts and carriages than I have on a horse (and actually saw a pretty horrific crack-up when a driver was thrown from a tourist carriage he was driving where I went to college--he was training a new young team and they bolted, with him getting thrown into the street.) I hope Mr. Arts makes a full recovery.

I sadly agree that the worst wrecks I have seen, where everyone was helpless, were with driving horses.

Not saying we should not drive, just be extra careful all the time, because those wrecks are easily worse than others.
Too much more there to go wrong than when riding a horse.
Is the nature of the beast.

I hope he pulls thru ok.
Any accident is a terrible thing to happen, no matter how it happened.

[SGray]

jingles from Texas

[Sandy M]

I greatly enjoyed my ONE experience at driving - a pony in the wide open spaces of the Ram Tap X-Country course many years ago. Even though it was a good time, I was NOT unaware of the possibility of problems and quite aware of my relative helplessness if something bad happened. With a full size horse or horses...Yikes!

Only one of my four Appies was trained to drive. Two of the others were certainly steady and reliable and likely would have made good driving horses. The one I have now - it would be suicidal.

I've met Willy, taken a couple of lessons from him years ago. Very helpful and didn't mind helping an "off breed!" LOL Our BOs are friends of his and frequently travel to Hanford to work with him. I wish him a swift recovery.

[danceronice]

I sadly agree that the worst wrecks I have seen, where everyone was helpless, were with driving horses.

Not saying we should not drive, just be extra careful all the time, because those wrecks are easily worse than others.
Too much more there to go wrong than when riding a horse.
Is the nature of the beast.

I hope he pulls thru ok.
Any accident is a terrible thing to happen, no matter how it happened.

Yep, I am still interested in driving and would like to experiment with my own horse (he's very good-natured and generally game to try anything as long as it's not jumping) but I just try not to forget that just because it's not sitting ON the horse doesn't mean it's 100% safe!