French international event rider Bruno Bouvier was killed in a fall on the cross-country phase of Barroca D’Alva horse trials in Portugal earlier today.
The 60-year-old event rider had a rotational fall at fence five, a triple brush, while riding the 10-year-old gelding Arcilloso III in the CIC** competition. Bruno suffered fatal injuries as a result, but his horse was not hurt.
Tributes have been flooding in from his fellow event riders on twitter.
Gemma Tattersall: “Totally gutted and sad to hear about Bruno Bouvier RIP you were such a great man. #terrible”
Ruth Edge: “R.I.P Bruno Bouvier such a sad loss of a great man.”
Andrew Heffernan: “Such sad news about Bruno Bouvier. A great guy who was a real character and will be sadly missed.”
Dan Jocelyn: “Extremely saddened to hear of the news of Bruno B today. Good friend, great rider, condolences to his family. Great ambassador for eventing.”
Barroca d’Alva event director Nicholas Melbourne Hart and president of the ground jury Jose Miguel Mexia de Almeida expressed their profund regret via a statement released by the FEI.
“On behalf of the whole sport, we would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Bruno Bouvier’s family and to all his friends in the equestrian world,” they said.
Bruno had competed at the highest level, including regularly travelling to the UK for Badminton, Blenheim and Burghley, during his career.
The FEI said a police inquiry had been launched into the accident.
