Equestrian Burge dies of injuries

Cindy Burge spent her life riding and training horses. On Wednesday, she died of injuries sustained in a riding accident Saturday in Kalispell, Mont.

Burge, 40, spent the past 23 years organizing the Deep Creek Horse Trials, which became the premier jumping horse trials in the Pacific Northwest, her father, Ed Burge, said. This year, 300 riders attended.

“She did just what she wanted to do,” Ed Burge said. “She started riding when she was 3. It just became an obsession for her.”

On Saturday, Burge was riding her new horse, Lucky Stripe, which she had purchased this spring in England.

Between the fourth and fifth jumps, Burge tried to make the horse turn in a tight circle as it galloped.

“It was just really a freaky thing. The horse tripped and they tumbled together,” Burge said.

Cindy Burge, who lived at Deep Creek in western Spokane County, suffered broken facial bones, a broken bone in her chest and a severe brain injury. She was airlifted from Kalispell to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, but she never regained consciousness, Burge said.

She died Wednesday morning surrounded by her family and her husband, Jerry Ackerman.

Six months ago, Burge completed a certified horse-training instruction program that made her one of eight in her field in the United States.

Burge played on the Cheney High School basketball team, was student body president and became the first girl president of the letterman’s club, Ed Burge said. When she was 18, she finished second in the North American Junior Championships for riding, held in Toronto. She later graduated with a degree from Eastern Washington University.

In addition to her father and husband, she is survived by her mother, Sally; sister Debbie Dillon, of Kalispell; and brother Curt Burge, of Spokane. Services have not yet been set.

“Once you met her, you would always remember her,” Ed Burge said.