GB horse riding star suffered fatal head injury after horror fall, inquest told

A BRITISH horse riding star suffered a fatal brain injury after falling during an event, an inquest heard today.

Georgie Campbell was taking part in a competition at the Bicton International Horse Trials in Devon when the horror unfolded.

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The 36-year-old and her horse Global Quest were on the final day of the event when they fell into water at a fence.

Georgie tragically couldn’t be saved and was declared dead at the scene.

An inquest heard today how her cause was death was given as a basal subarachnoid haemorrhage – a bleed on the brain.

Exeter coroner Alison Longhorn told the court there were no “suspicious circumstances”.

She adjourned the inquest until a later date while investigations are carried out.

Georgie began her horse riding career as a top-level showing rider before turning to eventing.

As a teen, she was shortlisted for the British junior team and made her five-star debut in 2009.

Georgie represented Great Britain numerous times on Nations Cup teams.

In 2010, she won the prize for the highest-placed rider under 25 in the British Open at Gatcombe.

In a moving tribute, her husband Jesse Campbell – a New Zealand event rider – described Georgie as “a strong, beautiful, phenomenal woman who just loved everything and everyone”.

He told how his wife would find “so much joy and love” in every situation.

Jesse added: “She would get as much joy from having a Greggs tea on the way home from the gallops as she would teaching a client in the pouring rain or jumping and galloping around biggest courses in the world.

“It was just incredible to be at your side and feel this energy.

“I’m so proud to be your husband. Rest in peace, my beautiful girl.”

Governing body British Eventing called Georgie’s death a “fatal accident” and confirmed horse Global Quest was uninjured in the fall.

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