Local Riding Instructor dies after being thrown

[Mellifluous]

This is very sad.

Friends and family will hold a memorial service this evening for Kristin Webber at High Point Farm in Bishop, the horse training farm where the 22-year-old woman fell Tuesday and later died.

Webber, an Oconee County resident who taught beginner and intermediate dressage and coordinated events for the farm, died in intensive care at St. Mary’s Hospital from a head injury after she apparently was thrown from her horse, said Oconee County Deputy Coroner Ed Carson.

At 5 p.m., Cindy Thaxton, the farm's owner and lead trainer, will open the memorial service with a prayer, followed by Ray Finger, children's pastor at Prince Avenue Baptist Church, who will lead a prayer and song, according to an announcement on the farm's Web site.

The farm is located at 1171 Astondale Road in Bishop.

[CarolU]

22 years old. That is way too young to die.

So very sad for her family and friends.

[Heidi]

I cannot find it. A beautiful poem, written for a woman who was well known in the gaited horse world who recently passed away. The poem was called "She went riding", or "She went riding today". Liz Graves? That name is stuck in my head. I think the poem was published in a gaited horse magazine.

[Mellifluous]

Here ya go Heidi, I think this is it. It was posted in honor of Lee Ziegler's passing.

I Think She Went Riding

You slipped away from us last night,
Gone riding.

So many horses came to carry you
silently, softly, gently.

Ethereal steeds with heavenly gaits,
grateful you understood them.

They took you home under the moonlight,
they knew the way.

I know you felt the wind in your hair again,
experienced complete freedom.

Utterly content in the scent of leather and horse,
as you always were when you
Went riding.

~~ Renee Martin

[Heidi]

Thank you, yes. That is the poem.

[Terry Wallace]

That is just terrible..... only 22 years old....

No helmet???

[Monty]

That was my question Terry - Did she have a helmet on ?

[Mellifluous]

I looked at pictures of her on the farm's website. No, no helmet.

Today they published that her horse stumbled and they both went down.