AN inquest jury today returned a verdict of accidental death on a 64-year-old rider who died after he broke his neck when his horse refused a fence on a cross country course.

Eye-witnesses said Robin Donaldson's fall during the Beckwithshaw Horse Trials, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, seemed innocuous at first and in slow motion.

People watching expected him to get up and dust himself down, but the former teacher was rendered instantly unconscious having suffered a fractured odontoid peg in his neck.

He was taken to hospital, but died more than a fortnight later following the fall on August 22, 2010.

Retired GP Angela Browning said she watched Mr Donaldson approach fence ten of the cross country course beautifully.

She said: "For some unknown reason the horse decided it wasn't going to go over it."

Dr Browning said the horse - Matilda Cruz - put one leg up as if it was going to jump but then just stopped. Mr Donaldson went over the fence still clutching the horse's bridle.

She told the jury: "We were expecting him just to stand up and get up because it was a slow motion fall - very innocuous."

The retired doctor said medics were at the scene within seconds.

Summarising the case for the jury, coroner Rob Turnbull said Mr Donaldson was taken first to Harrogate District Hospital, but later transferred to a specialist ward at Leeds General Infirmary.

He said it was established Mr Donaldson was paralysed from the neck down and would not be able to breathe unaided.

After a further deterioration, it was decided more medical intervention was inappropriate.

Mr Donaldson, from Little Ribston, near Wetherby, died on September 9, 2010.

The jury heard evidence from health and safety experts and eventing officials who concluded the course was safe and that Mr Donaldson was a very experienced rider who had competed at the highest level.

Harrogate Borough Council investigated the incident, but the coroner indicated this had shown no problems in terms of the organisation of the event itself.