CHARLESTON – A Florida woman has filed suit against two Fayette County stables after she sustained broken ribs in a fall from her saddle.
Cherie Gamble filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against New River Adventures Inc. and Autumn Breeze Farms Inc. alleging negligence.
The suit states that the plaintiff and her husband were guests at the defendants' stables on June 16, 2018, to ride horses. The suit states that the plaintiff and her husband were not very experienced riders and told the defendants' guides of their experience level.
The plaintiff alleges while on a trail ride, the sound of a snapping branch caused her horse to gallop and she fell off of the saddle. She alleges she sustained a punctured right lung, three broken ribs and one partially broken one and bruises as a result of the fall.
The plaintiff alleges the defendants' guides should have known the horse she was assigned was prone to being spooked and that a novice rider as herself would be unable to control it.
The plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees and court costs. The plaintiff is represented by Henry E. Wood III of Wood Law Office in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:19-CV-00453