Fire crews used battery-powered heavy-duty cutters to extricate an injured rider after she was thrown from her horse while riding in a South Langley park and landed in what Langley Township Assistant Fire Chief Andy Hewitson described as a “tree well.”
Crews were called around 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, to Campbell Valley Regional Park on the Shaggy Mane trail near the park entrance at 204th St. and 8th Ave.
Hewitson said the woman landed face down, suffering a back injury.
“The rescue was complicated by the brush and shrubs and the fact that she had a back injury,” Hewitson told the Langley Advance Times.
The cutters were used to remove the brush to allow paramedics access to the injured rider.
After the fire crews cleared the area, paramedics were able to place the woman on a back board and transport her to hospital by ambulance.
One witness said a group was riding along the trail when the horse sudden accelerated, catching the rider by surprise.
The horse appeared uninjured.
The trail, which is shared by pedestrians and riders, was closed off, and traffic to and from the park entrance was restricted to one alternating lane while emergency crews were on scene.
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Have a story tip? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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