Vancouver woman killed by loose horse at Portland Meadows

A Vancouver woman was killed Thursday morning at Portland Meadows after being kicked by a loose horse.

Horse trainer Charlynn Taketa, 62, was taking one of her two thoroughbred horses to a hot walker shortly after 7 a.m. when she was kicked in the head by another horse. She died about half an hour later, according to her husband, who was nearby when the accident occurred.

“It was one of those freak accidents,” Charlynn’s husband, Jerry Taketa, said Thursday afternoon. “It happens every so often.”

Jerry Taketa had just finished exercising the couple’s other horse when he returned to the barn. He found her on the ground and bleeding from the mouth. He said that paramedics from the track arrived soon after but were unable to do anything for her.

“She died within 30 or 40 minutes” of being kicked, he said.

Jerry Taketa doesn’t blame the horse for the accident. “Animals aren’t predictable, even if they’re friendly” he said.

The two were married for 23 years. They met in Spokane in 1972, when Jerry jockeyed one of Charlynn’s horses to her first victory.

Family friend Susan Scott of Vancouver said the accident is “more than awful.” Scott met the two when they owned three art galleries and a frame shop in Vancouver. Scott said the Taketas closed up shop in 2004 to get back into horse training.

Portland Police and the Multnomah County Medical Examiner are looking into the incident, Portland Fire and Rescue spokesman Paul Corah said.