William Muir has sought to emphasize that workers at his Lambourn steady are his first concern, because it emerged a former worker is suing over a 2018 fall that brought on a severe head damage.
A procedural listening to befell within the Excessive Court docket on Tuesday, at which attorneys for Maisie Beth Wooden, now 25, mentioned she had sustained a fractured cranium and mind injury which have brought on seizures because of the incident.
“I really feel very sorry for her,” Muir informed the Racing Submit on Wednesday. “However in our line of labor, there’s a chance that anybody can get damage and we all know that once we go to work with animals.
“The workers come first. The workers could be the very first thing on my thoughts as a result of we’ve all labored with horses all our lives and we’ve seen accidents. Everyone that works for me, I take care of as finest I presumably can.”
Muir was away from the yard on the morning of the incident, when Wooden was driving a filly referred to as Malaguena, who sustained an damage at a later date and by no means made it to the monitor. In accordance with reviews, the argument to be superior on Wooden’s behalf is that Malaguena was “extremely strung”, “tough to deal with” and was usually sedated earlier than work however not on the day in query.
Some or all of these particulars are anticipated to be disputed by the defence, which is being dealt with by Muir’s insurers, who deny there was any negligence.
“I’m not saying the filly was easy or a useless quiet, bus of a journey,” Muir mentioned, “however she wasn’t a horrible journey both. It’s simply a kind of issues.”
‘I’ve performed nothing however attempt to assist’
Wooden is alleged to have been unseated, touchdown on her head. Then, as a colleague tried to assist her again into the saddle, Malaguena is alleged to have bolted, inflicting Wooden to fall once more and a hoof to strike her head.
Within the occasion that Wooden’s declare succeeds, the quantity of compensation she receives will rely on medical proof. Her attorneys say the case has a minimal worth of £200,000.
“I’ve performed nothing however attempt to assist her throughout,” mentioned Muir, including that he continued to pay Wooden’s wages lengthy after the incident. He describes repeatedly giving Wooden lifts from Lambourn village to his stables in order that she might be round her work colleagues within the following months, as he feared she might grow to be remoted in any other case.
Wooden’s attorneys, RWK Goodman, responded: “Maisie is basically very grateful to Mr Muir for his concern and assist after the accident. It’s not truthful to anybody to debate the small print of the case within the press however Mr Muir is correct that this stuff do generally occur and because of this all employers have insurance coverage.”
An evidential listening to is because of happen within the case, on a date to be decided.
Courtesy of Racing Submit