The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently reported on a study performed by Professor David Nutt noting that horseback riding in the UK accounted for 10 deaths and 100 traffic accidents each year.

Dr. Nutt told the BBC he found many serious accidents resulted from a "mismatch between the skills of the participant and the task attempted."

The BBC cited another study, performed by Dr. John Silver, emeritus spinal injuries consultant. Silver cites a figure from 1992 of 12 equestrian-related fatalities from 2.87 million participants, writes BBC.com. He also notes that in the period from 1994-1999, 3% of all spinal cord injury patients admitted to his hospital were the result of horse riding.