RBCEP director injured in horse riding accident

Officials said Mike Franklin has been hospitalized after sustaining injuries in a horse riding accident on Wednesday. FILE PHOTO.

HODGES – The director of the Rock Bridge Canyon Equestrian Park in Hodges is hospitalized after sustaining injuries in a horse riding accident on Wednesday.

According to officials, Mike Franklin, who also serves as the Hodges police chief, was conducting a tour at RBCEP on Wednesday afternoon when the young horse he was riding became startled by deer crossing the path.

Officials said Franklin fell off the horse and the horse fell on top of him causing a crushed collar bone, a broken femur bone in his right leg, four broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

Emergency personnel responded to the scene and were able to get Franklin out of the canyon and transported him to Helen Keller Hospital in Tuscumbia where he was then airlifted to Huntsville Hospital.

As of Thursday afternoon, hospital officials said Franklin was listed in fair condition in the surgical ICU at Huntsville Hospital.