Woman who was badly injured in fall from horse dies, after fight to ride again

Sunday, 10 May 2026

A woman who was determined to get back on her horse after becoming a paraplegic in a riding accident last year has died.

Lauren Simpson suffered a “horrific horse riding accident” on March 29, 2025.

“The weather was great; the people are a caring, fun community that I wanted to become a part of,” she wrote on a Givealittle page.

“But instead, Dash lost a shoe over a wire jump, then stumbled, hard.”

Simpson’s C2 vertebrae broke as she landed on the back of her head and she said she saw her horse, Dash drop to one knee.

“Just as I flattened to the ground he rolled onto me - an immense weight. I knew instantly that I could not move my legs.

“His weight had caused dislocation of T3-4, bent my spine and fractured 4 ribs.”

She said she had become paraplegic, but had a passion to continue riding for physical and mental health reasons.

The Givealittle page was a fundraiser for the equipment needed to get her back on her horse.

Her family on Sunday wrote in a Facebook post that Simpson had died from a heart attack.

An earlier version of this story included the date of the accident as March 29. This has been corrected to March 29, 2025. Amended: 7.55pm pm, May 10, 2026.