The condition of 53-year old Willy Arts is slowly improving after the dressage trainer and rider was involved in a serious carriage accident during the Friesian Stallion Performance Testing at DG Bar Ranch in Hanford, CA, on Tuesday 19 February 2013.
Arts was hospitalized after a horse and buggy accident and got diagnosed with multiple skull fractures and two broken vertebrae in his back amongst
other broken bones.
DG Bar Ranch owner Tony deGroot posted that "Willy is making improvements and the doctors are pleased with his progress. He is talking with us and can move his arms and legs. He is so tough, which we all knew, but it is very encouraging to see! We still do not have precise details on his injures but he is very stable."
Willy Arts is chair of the North American Dutch Warmblood Society (KWPN-NA). He was a successful stallion trainer in The Netherlands in the 1980s before permanently moving to California where he manages DG Bar ranch for DeGroot family.
Photo © Astrid Appels
Related Link
Willy Arts Severely Injured in Carriage Accident