Objective There is a paucity of evidence about traumatic injuries and their sequelae sustained due to equestrian injuries nationally. Methods Retrospective study analyzing National Trauma Data Bank data from 2007 to 2016. Variables collected included age, sex, race, payer status, Injury Severity Score (ISS), hospital length of stay, Glasgow Coma Scale, systolic blood pressure (SBP) at presentation, discharge disposition, and mortality. Patient data were analyzed by anatomic region. Results The most frequent type of injury was in the thorax, but head and neck injuries produced the highest mortality. Increased ISS and an SBP of less than 90 mm Hg were also significant predictors of mortality. Conclusions The risk of hospital admission from equestrian injuries is higher than football, motor vehicle racing, and skiing. Preventive measures and campaigns should be instituted to highlight safety practices and the use of personal protective equipment while on horseback either for sports, leisure, or work. Level of evidence Level IV. Retrospective study.

Maternal separation (MS) early in life is related to an increase in anxiety and depressive-like behaviors and neurobiological alterations mostly related to alterations in hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity. Environmental enrichment (EE) has been used to ameliorate the effects of MS. However, the outcomes of this intervention at different developmental periods after MS have not been studied. We subjected male and female Sprague–Dawley pups to MS and subsequently compared the effects of EE started either in the pre-pubertal period [postnatal day (PND) 22] or adulthood (PND 78). Anxiety and depressive-like behaviors as well as in hippocampal synaptic density and basal corticosterone, oxytocin, and vasopressin levels were measured. Our results support the beneficial effects of adulthood EE in decreasing anxiety in males as well as promoting synaptic density in ventral hippocampal CA3. Males displayed higher levels of vasopressin while females displayed higher oxytocin, with no changes in basal corticosterone for any group after EE.