A man has died after a deadly accident that happened three weeks ago. The victim has been identified as Elliot Patterson. According to reports, Australian dressage rider Elliot Patterson passed away on 25 May 2024 from injuries sustained in a fall on a horse. He was 32 years old. A thought for all who are tonight learning of this difficult news.
What happened to Elliot Patterson?
Elliot had an accident at the end of a routine session, his fiancée Alexis Hellyer explained. While cooling the horse down on a long rein at a walk, the horse spooked sideways, lost its back legs, and fell on its right side. Elliot was wearing a helmet. He was transported to the hospital, where he remained in a coma in the ICU with severe head trauma.
About Elliot Patterson
Elliot Patterson began riding at a young age, enjoying horses at pony clubs and agricultural shows. He won boy rider classes at the Sydney and Brisbane Royal Shows. Starting as a versatile rider in interschool competitions, his first main show horse was Waga, a show jumper.
Career
Patterson switched to dressage as a teenager after discovering the horse Leandro during a family holiday in Germany. Leandro, a Hanoverian born in 2002, had competed in Germany before Patterson started training with him in 2008 under coach Tor van den Berge. The duo competed at the young riders’ level from 2009, representing Australia at the 2011 Trans-Tasman Young Riders Derby, where the Australian team won.
They moved up to the Under 25 Grand Prix level in 2013, with their last competition together at the 2014 CDI Sydney. In 2010, Patterson met Alexis Hellyer, and they built The Pines Performance Centre together in Moggill, Queensland. Patterson proposed in 2018, the same year Alexis represented Australia at the World Equestrian Games.
Patterson returned to international competition in 2016 with Boronia HG and made a Grand Prix comeback in 2022 with Santiago, competing in Europe. By 2023, he was competing internationally with Del Piero ZF, owned by him and Alexis. Patterson was known for training young horses and regularly competed at the Australian Young Horse Championships, winning multiple medals, including gold in 2024 and 2023, silver in 2024 and 2018, and bronze in 2018 and 2017.
Funeral details will be posted shortly.
