After much "talk in the marketplace" about Shane's condition and accident we publish for his many friends and fans the full story of what happened to Shane.

As too often happens, the "marketplace" is fuelled by forum dicussions where people using pen names present rumours as facts and then accuse others of doing similar - jumpingaround.com were in possession of what "appeared" to be a media release regarding Shane's condition and presented the news flash as "we understand this to be the case" but we can now be confident in bringing you the following news which comes to us from Bimbadeen Park

Hi Jan,

I was until your e-mail completely unaware of all the discussion on the forums. I can report the following as fact and I am happy for you to report the following on your site.

On Friday, 4 March Shane was kicked in the face by a horse whilst he was long reining it through the barriers. He has sustained multiple facial fractures.

The accident was witnessed by a friend, Shane was unconscious for about 10 seconds and was immediately rushed to hospital.

Shane was put in a medically induced coma to regulate his breathing and manage the pain, he has now had a number of operations including a tracheotomy and some facial reconstruction and is well and truly on the road to recovery.

He woke for the first time on Friday, 11 March he is unable to speak (due to the tracheotomy) and has difficulties opening his eyes due to the swelling. He is very alert and responsive and answers questions with a nod or shake of the head. He has also be writing notes to communicate.

He is understandably frustrated at the situation. He is still in the Intensive Care Unit at Liverpool hospital, we hope that he will move to a ward early next week.

It will be a long road to complete recovery, but no doubt Shane's fighting spirit will ensure he is back out competing very soon.


I hope this clears a few thing up.

Bimbadeen Park
NSW, Australia

Editors Note: We, at jumpingaround.com wish Shane a speedy recovery Australians everywhere will be looking forward to seeing him back on the competition trail as soon as possible.