Sarah's Story on tonight ABC 7.30 Report

[strongmanmike]

My niece Sarah Waugh (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/sarahs_nebula) was tragically killed in March 2009 in a horse riding accident in Dubbo at the age of 18, while on a TAFE NSW course.

The accident was preventable and my sister has been working tirelessly to have the glaring safety issues brought to light and more importantly, appropriately addressed, in order to prevent this sort of tragedy happening to other families in the future.

Tonight (10 March) on the ABC The 7.30 report will be airing a story about Sarah and the plight of my sister and her family and their tireless quest to bring about long over due safety changes in the horse riding industry.

So if you have the time and are interested you may find it worth viewing, I know my sister would appreciate it :).

Thanks for your time

Michael Sidonio

[renormalised]

Will do:)

You know Mike, what really makes me angry and p'ed off is things like this happen, and those responsible for whatever was the case at the time just seem to want to run away from doing anything about it...hoping the problem/s will just go away and/or that whatever happened is just a one off and won't happen again on their watch. It's all about dodging responsibility and duty of care, as well as trying to dodge any monetary consequences of what happened and trying to get out of as much as they can...trying to appear to be the innocent party in it all.

I hope your sister gets everything done and then nails their sorry hides to the wall. Some heads may have to roll on in order to get the changes needed to make the industry safer than what it is.

[mozzie]

sorry to here of your niece mike.. terrible so terrible i'll defiantly be watching tonight......

[PCH]

Mike,

so sorry to hear of this tragic happening. But what a fantastic memorial to her is that web page that you've dedicated to her. That's great. We'll view the doco and see what, if anything, is to be done about it.

All the best

[tlgerdes]

Barry and I sat down and watched tonight, thanks for lettings us know about the story.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks everyone :)

It was rather emotional viewing for us all.

Mark and Juliana (and Sarah's younger brother Jonathan) have been through a lot in the past two years, so having the story air in the way it did was at least a feeling that their concerns are finally being taken seriously. There needs to be changes made to the NSW TAFE program in question, the OH&S assesment systems and approaches that TAFE uses and the horse industry in general.

Bravo Mark and Juliana.... and most of all we miss you Sarah.

Mike

[skywalker]

[hi i would like to email sarah's parents. i was injured in a horse fall first time on a horse years ago.
i saw a solicitor but did not take it further, too difficult, i was worried that someone would be killed next time,. it was a unsupervised horse riding property. very dangerous.
so sorry to hear about sarah, such a tragedy. pray that you get some justice for sarah



QUOTE=strongmanmike;696945]Thanks everyone :)

It was rather emotional viewing for us all.

Mark and Juliana (and Sarah's younger brother Jonathan) have been through a lot in the past two years, so having the story air in the way it did was at least a feeling that their concerns are finally being taken seriously. There needs to be changes made to the NSW TAFE program in question, the OH&S assesment systems and approaches that TAFE uses and the horse industry in general.

Bravo Mark and Juliana.... and most of all we miss you Sarah.

Mike[/QUOTE]

[h0ughy]

i missed the programme mike (up at the hospital with Mum) but i have downloaded it from the ABC web site - watch it tomorrow

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Houghy it was a well balanced piece that highlighted all the bits that needed highlighting and did it very well in the relatively short time frame. It was a good solid segment to start the show too, the 7.30 Report team was very proffessional and subsequently accurate.

Hope your mum is ok too

Mike

[casstony]

I can relate to the story and would like to see regulation in order to raise awareness of the dangers for novice riders.

Twenty years ago I was learning to ride and was put on a retired race horse - the animal bolted and I half fell/half jumped off, breaking my arm when I hit the ground.

As a novice in any potentially dangerous activity one automatically places trust in others that is sometimes unwarranted. Regulation wouldn't stop all novices from getting on a race horse but it would dramatically reduce the occurrence.

Very sad to see Sarah's death resulting from the negligence of those who should have known better.

[beren]

Mike so sorry to hear the loss of your niece Sarah, my condolences to you and your family. Watched the program, hopefully changes come swiftly to improve safety in the industry.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks guys

The sad thhing is that you expect educational institutions to be smarter about these things and when your children attend them to learn you expect that they have appropriate seftey proceedures and precautions in place but what has also been highlighted by Sarahs story is the urgent need for regulation around safety in the whole horse industry.

Mike

[strongmanmike]

For thsoe interested who missed the story, here is the transcript with a video link to the 7.30 Report piece at the top right:

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3160944.htm#

Mike

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Mike

I watched it.
What I can't understand is whoever thought skitty ex race horses would be good for beginners. I think the police get the best and I thought the rest went to the glue factory.

Barry

[strongmanmike]

Wasn't exactly a "beginners" course but did have a number of inexperienced riders enrolled and none that had riden a freshly run racehorse!!!

There are no legal regulations in Australia to ensure such revelations about a horse are disclosed, no requirment for horses to be microchipped nor have detailed temperament records - no not even for riding schools, even helmets are just a code of practise!

Rediculous and I mean no offence but the country attitude of "she B right mate" and "horses are like that" is just not good enough.

Many serious injuries and even deaths could be prevented if attitudes change and some enforcable laws are introduced. If Sarahs story leads to changes in these areas then that's a good thing.

Mike

[DavidTrap]

Just watched this on iView - quite a good website really.

You can't learn to ride on a powerful motorbike, but you can learn to ride on a racehorse - doesn't seem right.

Sorry for your loss. I hope your sister and family can bring about some change.

DT

[mozzie]

very sad show mike must bring back a lot of memories...your niece was a bright young lady with a future all in front of her,bloody shame mike....
thanks for letting us know what happens i'll be asking a lot of questions if my children ever want to go and ride horses in the future....

[hotspur]

Just watched a repeat of this-I am absolutely horrified that ex race horses are leased by NSW TAFE and trucked in when needed.This practice really is unbelievable.

Living in the country,and working at various bush locations brings me into contact with cattle working horses-they are very skitish animals at the best of times,but an ex race horse to teach young people.Is bit like someone wanting to learn how to become a reptile handler-and been given a black mamba on their first lesson.

This must be very painful for you and your family Mike-Lets hope Sarah's story can prevent this thing happening to another family.