An unidentified local man believed to be in his 40s was seriously injured after falling from his horse near the Berry College mountain campus Monday afternoon. 

According to Floyd County EMS officials, the man and his wife were taking a Memorial Day trail ride along the area of Lavender Mountain when the man fell from his horse and received severe head injuries around 3:00 PM. The wife quickly called 911 and told dispatchers that her husband was bleeding severely from his head and mouth and had stopped breathing.

A group of hikers soon came along and began taking turns performing CPR on the injured man. Rome EMS and Berry Police officers heeded the call and created a staging area at the Old Mill at the Berry mountain campus.

According to Berry Police the accident occurred near the Reservoir atop Lavender Mountain, a mile to a mile-and-a-half from the mill, up a paved trail, then down a logging road. 

According to Redmond EMS, the man had no pulse and was not breathing when they arrived, but they were able to utilize their Automatic Electronic Difribulator (AED) to shock him and bring him back.  

The man was loaded into a nearby ambulance and was transported to a waiting Erlanger Life-Flight Chopper which had landed at the old soccer fields near Camp Win Shape. The man was then flown to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga where he is considered to be in critical condition. 

Berry Police were investigating the accident Monday afternoon.

 Romenewswire