French Grand Prix dressage team rider Constance Menard had a severe near-death accident on Tuesday morning August 9, 2005. A ball of forage of more than 300 kg fell on top of Menard, according to French Dressage Selector Alain Franqueville
, who was about to start a two week training session with Menard at the National Equestrian Centre in Saumur, France.
Constance was immediately transported to the hospital of Saumur and later on transferred to the university hospital in Angers, France. She was operated on her left collarbone which was dislodged and broken, and she has more severe fractures. "The right collar bone is broken, as well as some vertebrae, two cervical and one lumbar and the sternum has been bruised," her distraught father Jacques Henri Menard told the French magazine Cavadeos. "She's getting oxygen and cannot talk."
Jacques Henri hopes that this severe accident will the last bit of bad luck Constance has to go through. A couple of weeks ago she also broke her foot and her father has been in bad health the past months. "But I'm fine for the moment," he told Marie Helene Merlin of Cavadeos.
Two weeks ago, Constance competed at the 2005 European Dressage Championships in Hagen, Germany, and with much enthusiasm she said, "because of all the misery I had lately, being here in Hagen is just pure happiness." The entire dressage community hopes that Constance will be smiling and having fun again as soon as possible.
Send Constance a Get Well Soon card at:
Constance Menard
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers
4 rue Larrey
49933 Angers
France
Source: Cavadeos
Photo copyrighted: Astrid Appels/Eurodressage.com
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