Palmyra, N.Y. - It was only after her daughter’s horse showed up back at the stable without a rider that Kaylee Rizzo’s mother went to look for her. By then it was already too late.
State Police say 20-year-old Kaylee Rizzo died of a massive head injury.
She fell to the ground on rural Lyons Road within sight of her mother’s farm. By the time her mother found her at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, she was not breathing. State Police have no witnesses and do not know how long she lay there or what may have spooked her horse Lyla Rose.
With no other signs of trauma, it’s likely the fall caused her death.
“Everyone is very saddened,” says Terry Wentworth who owns Empire Saddlery in Webster. She did not know the Rizzo’s but says the equestrian community is small and close.
“It’s just a horrible, horrible thing- it could happen to anyone,” says Wentworth.
That was the case for Dressage rider Courtney King Dye. Dressage is a type of competitive riding. A fall left her with a traumatic head injury.
“I still struggle with talking, I certainly can’t walk by myself or do much of anything by myself,” she says in a video on YouTube. The former Olympian now advocates for helmet use in the sport.
“Expect the unexpected, safety has nothing to do with the level of skill,” says King Dye.
New York Law does not require their use for horseback riders, but most of the local stables do. “You are not allowed on a horse unless you have a helmet and it is properly fitted,” says Terry Wentworth.
Messages left for the Rizzo family were not returned today. Kaylee played tennis at Fairport High, she graduated in 2009.
State police say she was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. The investigation is on-going and an autopsy has been scheduled.
