The Equestrian Art At 17-Year-Old Olivia Inglis’ Memorial

*This is a special article about the art that was at Olivia Inglis’ memorial earlier this month. I am showing you Allira Fontana’s “Fly Free, Fly High” photo of Olivia that was used for the #rideforolivia movement as well as nearly ten other paintings featuring Olivia.

On March 6th, the equestrian world was rocked off it’s feet when 17-year-old cross country rider Olivia Englis was crushed to death by her horse Coriolanus during a competition. Her parents Arthur and Charlotte Inglis, of the world renowned Inglis horse breeding dynasty, were watching from the stands at the Scone Horse Trials in New South Wales when Coriolanus fell during a “botched” jump, local media said. Below are photos of the ten equestrian paintings of Olivia that were at her memorial.

Photo by Dean Sewell For the Daily Mail Australia

Equestrian Australia spokeswoman Judy Fasher told the Daily Telegraph that said the Inglis family were “beside themselves” after witnessing the death. “You can imagine they are traumatised, they’ve got a horrendous situation today,” she said. “Unfortunately sometimes horses make mistakes.” She paid tribute to Olivia as “talented and accomplished” and said she had been riding since she was a little girl. “She was an accomplished rider, very experienced and has been riding all her life, since she was a little tot,” she said.

Coriolanus who had been trained by Olivia’s mother, had to be put down frown the injuries he sustained from the accident.

Photo by Dean Sewell For the Daily Mail Australia

Later in March, they held Olivia’s memorial service at Randwick, in Sydney, Australia at St Jude’s Anglican Church, which nearly 700 hundred people attended. Olivia’s parents where also presented with the #rideforolivia mosaic, that millions of equestrians from around the world came together, sharing photos of themselves riding their horse in honor of this fallen rider. The hashtag was trending for multiple days on Facebook as well.

Olivia’s mother Charlotte, right, and sister Alexandra, with the mosaic. © Mark Webster

Two officers on horseback were outside the church during the service, and later escorted the hearse — Two mounted officers at the memorial. Photo by Dean Sewell For the Daily Mail Australia

The mosaic was modeled after photographer Allira Fontana’s image of Olivia riding her horse two weeks before her accident. “I then removed the backdrop of the cross country jump and put in an image of blue sky I had also taken (and added a few clouds and text).” Allira told The Flying Shetlands.

The #rideforolivia mosaic, made up of thousands of the millions of images including the hashtag on social media

When asked about who started the #rideforolivia movement, Allria said, “Lisa Purcell is the lady behind the #RideForOliva mosaic. With the help of the equine community and my original image she created a print for Olivia’s family to cherish.

Photo by Dean Sewell For the Daily Mail Australia
The idea behind “Fly Free, Fly High” came about when I read numerous posts about her passing with reference to her now “jumping free forever” and I thought a small quote like that would suit an image of her jumping in the sky. ”

Allira has been around animals all her life, particularly dogs. She was then introduced to horses by a close friend and has been riding and photographing horses ever since. In 2014 she graduated with her Photography Diploma and began photographing at some of the most prestigious horse shows in Australia. She as does portrait photography as well. Below are more of her photos that she let me use for this article. To find out more about Allira and her work, go to her website and Facebook page.