In Memoriam
Bridget Kate Publicover
November 25, 1985
September 18, 2004
In October of 2002, two young women stopped by the rescue and wanted to volunteer. Bridget and her best friend, Laura, were still in high school but had a deep love of horses all their lives and volunteering was in their blood. Bridget had spent some time working with mentally challenged clients of Heritage Christian Home in Rochester using the horses as therapy.
Both girls were excellent riders and exercised most of the horses here that were rideable. Bridget even had Sonny(a black quarter horse trained in western pleasure)doing dressage moves. They were afraid of nothing when it came to horses. They both had spirit and compassion for the horses.
Bridget decided after graduation to attend SUNY Morrisville and was a second year student majoring in equine science and management and was going to graduate in May, 2005.
On Saturday afternoon, September 18, 2004, Bridget was leading a horse back to the barn. Something terrible happened, Bridget somehow fell to the ground and the horse stepped on her neck. The Smithfield Fire Department responded to the 911 call and tried to resuscitate her. She was too unstable for a helicopter flight to Syracuse, so she was taken by ambulance to Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton. Bridget did not survive and was pronounced dead at 3:24 p.m.
The staff and volunteers that knew her were devastated by her death. She was so young and vibrant. Our deepest condolences go out to her mother, father and brother.
Bridget was to have celebrated her nineteenth birthday last November 25.