ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKRC) - A veteran exercise rider is recovering from serious injuries after the horse she was riding collapsed on top of her. Now, she's questioning the medical response at Belterra Park.
Kellie Hedges has been an exercise rider for 36 years. On the morning of June 26, she was working out a horse when the horse collapsed on the track at Belterra Park.
"She just made a direct nose dive to the ground, and I'm assuming she went over the top of me," Hedges said.
Today, Hedges is recovering at home after suffering a broken leg, leg contusions, an injured knee, three broken ribs and a broken clavicle.
Hedges says a siren sounds when a horse or rider go down; that means everybody needs to get off the track. She says the sirens stopped, allowing everyone back on, while she was still down.
"At the time, you've still got horses going around you, and I'm dead on the rail. So you don't know if a horse is coming behind you, breezing or somebody's galloping. So my instincts is to try to get up, but when I went to I couldn't," she said.
While dazed, Hedges said she knew she needed help, but she claims track medical workers were slow to respond.
"They got me up and carried me out to the the rail," she said.
But Hedges says with the injuries she suffered, she should have remained down on the track. Once off the track, she was placed on a golf cart instead of a stretcher. She questions the race track's preparedness.
"Is Belterra not doing their job as hiring efficient enough people to take care of situations like me?" Hedges asked.
Hedges prides herself on being tough, but she is not sure whether she will ride again.
"I'm fearless; everybody knows that on the racetrack. They can't beat Kellie. Kellie don't get hurt, and I am," she said.
Local 12 reached out to both Belterra Park and the Ohio Racing Commission for comment, but they did not respond.
Exercise riders are not represented by the Jockey's Guild, but that organization recently called on tracks to have paramedics on duty -- both during training and racing hours. It says the industry, as a whole, must be committed to rider safety.
