[Epidemiology of equestrian injuries in children]

Purpose: Children increasingly participate in horseback riding, especially young girls, with more and more accidents during this activity. The severity of the injuries caused by horses seems to be higher than in other sports.

Methods: In a retrospective study, we reviewed 303 accidents of children younger than 15 years of age during the past 13 years. Our study only investigated children who were hospitalized after their accident.

Results: Eighty-two percent of the injured children were girls, but there was no difference between girls and boys in terms of severity. In most cases, children were hurt by falling from the horse (87 %). In the other cases, they were kicked or bitten by the animal. The most frequent trauma sustained was fracture (50 %). The upper extremity was injured in 40 % of the traumas followed by the head (32 %). The lower limbs, the abdomen, the spine, or the thorax were injured in less than 10 % of the incidents. The severity of the accidents was studied with the Injury Severity Score and we compared groups of children. Children younger than 11 years old were more severely injured than older children (P=0.0002).

Conclusion: The youngest horseback riders should be supervised carefully to avoid severe injuries during this activity.