A teal cross made from horseshoes has been perched at the end of a Chatsworth equestrian arena for almost a year.
It sits in the exact location where Breanna Chadwick was injured while attending the Appalachian Wagon Train festival at the Murray County Saddle Club in July 2022. She died less than 24 hours later in the hospital, surrounded by friends and family.
In the immediate aftermath of the rodeo accident, organizers considered canceling the festival, which has been running since 1947, for good. But Chadwick’s parents said no.
“Her mom and daddy told us that they did not want us to shut it down, because she loved animals, she loved to come up here, she loved doing the events, and they said that this wouldn’t be right to do,” Murray County Saddle Club President Earl Stanley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Chadwick, 20, and her family were attending the festival on July 7, 2022, when a horse plowed into a gate in the arena and the gate struck her, fire department officials said. She was flown to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she died the following day.
A year after the freak accident, Chadwick’s family said they are eager to enjoy the festival again.
“This year’s Wagon Train is completely about my sister,” said Kirsten Chadwick, 19.
Stanley confirmed changes are in place to ensure no one is hurt in a similar manner during this year’s festival, which begins June 30 and runs through July 9. He said keeping people away from the gates will be a priority. The Saddle Club also has added a new entrance for the horses at the covered arena where the incident occurred. It will be narrower, and fans will be prevented from walking in front of or standing near it, according to Stanley.
In the 15 years that Stanley has been with the Saddle Club, he said he has seen plenty of riders fall off horses during the festival and get right back on. No accident has come close to the severity of Chadwick’s, he said.
“It’s one of those things you can’t explain,” Stanley said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life.”
Breanna’s family will honor her by bringing The Breanna Leigh Boutique to the festival grounds. Every item up for sale is hand selected or created with her in mind, with the proceeds going toward The Breanna Leigh Chadwick Memorial Foundation. The family also invites the public to celebrate her life at Hopewell Baptist Church’s cemetery in Ball Ground at sunset July 8.
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
The festival has been an annual family event for the Chadwicks, who live in Canton. Kristy Chadwick, Breanna’s mother, said the family spends plenty of time around horses, and Kirsten still rides regularly.
Both Breanna, described as a small-town girl with a “good mixture of country and diva,” and her younger sister always looked forward to the Wagon Train parade, which is held in the final days of the festival.
While Breanna lay in the hospital last year, surrounded by more than 100 people who provided comfort in her final moments, Kirsten and several of the girls’ friends participated in the parade. Sporting Breanna’s favorite color, teal shirts and countless teal balloons became the procession’s main spectacle.
The immense turnout at the hospital and the nearly 1,200 people who showed up at Breanna’s funeral moved her mother to continue building upon her daughter’s legacy. Kristy said Breanna was a friend to everyone — someone who drew inspiration from those around her and inspired them right back. While still a student at Reinhardt University, Breanna volunteered at multiple elementary schools as a mentor to children and provided bookbags for those in need.
She was working toward becoming a third-grade teacher, drawing on the support and guidance of several beloved past teachers and professors. Already planning for her first classroom, she began buying supplies to decorate in a Dr. Seuss theme. Breanna’s foundation, which was founded soon after her death, provides grants for new teachers to help with classroom supply costs and scholarships to students.
“What she started was something that I wanted to continue,” Kristy said.
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
Kirsten said not a day goes by that she doesn’t miss her sister. And though it will be difficult to attend this year’s Wagon Train without Breanna, her presence can’t be missed. That teal cross in the main arena will always remind the family of the countless summers they spent and will continue to spend together at the festival.
“It was a complete accident, so there was nothing really they could do,” Kirsten said. “But the pain of losing her never goes away.”
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