Girl, 14, Hospitalized After Fall From Horse Near Surcin
A teenager fell from a horse near Surcin on Sunday morning and suffered head injuries. She was later moved to the Mother and Child Health Institute after treatment at the Emergency Center.
A girl aged 14 suffered head injuries after falling from a horse at an equestrian club near Surcin. The fall happened on Sunday, August 9, at around 9:30 a.m., during a riding lesson. An ambulance crew took her to the Emergency Center, where she received first aid.
Once her condition was stabilized, she was transferred to the Mother and Child Health Institute, where she remains under hospital care. The circumstances of the fall had not been established at the time of the report. A review is expected to follow.
Here is the sequence of events as reported:
- fall from the horse during training, around 9:30 a.m.
- head injuries requiring urgent medical attention
- transport to the Emergency Center and first aid
- transfer to the Mother and Child Health Institute once stabilized
- ongoing hospital care
What Is Known About the Fall, and What Isn’t
The time, place and outcome are known. What led up to the fall is not.
The report contains no information on whether the girl was riding in an indoor arena or on an outdoor course, who was leading the training session or what protective gear she was wearing. There is also no information on whether the horse reacted to something external. Those details are typically established afterward, through a review of training conditions and statements from those who were present.
Until that happens, any claim about the cause of the fall remains a guess. A helmet is standard equipment at riding schools, but whether one was worn, and how, on that particular morning cannot be determined from the information available.
Why She Was Taken to This Particular Institute
The Institute for the Health Protection of Mothers and Children of Serbia “Dr Vukan Cupic” in New Belgrade is a tertiary level facility for pediatric medicine. Children who need hospital monitoring and further diagnostics after initial treatment are referred there.
The fact that she was moved there after being stabilized indicates the process was not completed at the Emergency Center. With head injuries in children, hospital care usually means monitoring and follow up examinations, and how long it lasts depends on the findings. No health institution has released official information on the girl’s condition.
The minor’s identity is not being disclosed, nor is her photograph.
Who Determines Responsibility After a Training Injury?
The first step is a police report on the incident. Based on it, the prosecution assesses whether there are grounds for a criminal case, primarily concerning negligence on the part of whoever was responsible for ensuring safe conditions for children.
If prosecutors find no grounds for a criminal case, the matter shifts to civil law. The club’s liability as the organizer of the training session would then be argued in a civil suit, not a criminal proceeding. For now, neither track has been announced, nor has anyone been named as responsible.
The review that is still to come has a narrow task: to establish what happened before the fall. Everything else, including whether anyone failed to do something they were required to do, follows from that.
What Remains Open
Three things are still awaiting an answer. The first is the cause of the fall. The second is the girl’s condition, which doctors and her family will decide whether to disclose. The third is whether the review will lead to any formal proceeding at all.
A riding lesson is an organized activity involving minors, so the review will also look at who was responsible for supervision at the time. That is not an accusation, just a standard part of the process that follows any report of a child’s injury at a sports facility.
Until then, this is what has been confirmed: a 14-year-old girl fell from a horse during training near Surcin, suffered head injuries and remains hospitalized at the Mother and Child Health Institute.
