Boyd Martin and Caroline Martin are recovering from falls at the Plantation Field International CCI4*-S (Pennsylvania) on Sept. 22.
Boyd, 40, fell from Bonito, a 12-year-old Hanoverian (Betel xx—Ronda, Ramiro’s Son II) who was competing in his first advanced since an injury last year, at fence 16B, a set of angled cabins.
“Bonito was giving me a terrific round,” Boyd said. “To be honest, he hasn’t been at this level for a bit, and I think we just misjudged the fence slightly, and he caught a knee and twisted a bit, and down I went.”
Boyd went to the emergency room because he had pain in his groin area and pelvis, and a CT scan and X-rays ruled out fractures.
“I went to a specialist this morning, and it looks like both my hips have a bit of bruising, but both my hip joints have a bit of arthritis,” he said. “My joints are actually not that good, so I’m getting both hip joints injected tomorrow morning, which I think could really help because I’ve been stiff and locked in both hips, which causes a bit of back pain. I’m hoping it will loosen everything up and improve my riding a bit.”
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Bonito galloped off after the fall and was fine. Boyd will sit out the Stable View CCI4*-S (South Carolina) this weekend and let his assistant rider Mike Pendleton compete his young horses.
Caroline Martin (no relation to Boyd), 24, fell from Danger Mouse, an 11-year-old warmblood by Kannan, at the same fence after he hung a leg on the A element.
“Mouse has a little scrape, but they jogged him right after I fell, and they took him home, and I got home around 10 last night,” she said. “My girls were icing him a couple of times, and he went outside with his miniature pony, so he is no worse for wear.”
Caroline broke her left collarbone. She’s broken her right one twice before. She’ll have surgery tomorrow in New York.