The 25-year-old suffered serious head injuries after he and his gelding Ispo had a rotational fall as they attempted to jump fence 20 of the Luhmühlen Horse Trials course, resulting in the rider being crushed beneath the horse.

He was wearing an air jacket safety device, which inflates when a rider leaves the saddle, but was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Ispo was uninjured during the fall.

Winter, from Dortmund, was lying 14th after the dressage and had completed the cross-country circuit without errors on another horse, Wild Thing, earlier in the day.

Following the incident, Ingmar De Vos, secretary general of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), expressed his "profound regret" at the tragedy.

"The entire equestrian community is deeply distressed at this terrible news," he said.

"The safety and welfare of riders and horses is of prime importance at all FEI events, but sadly tragic accidents like this do happen.

"On behalf of the FEI and the whole sport I would like to express our most sincere condolences to Benjamin Winter's family and his many friends on the eventing circuit.

"He was a truly talented rider who was expected to go right to the top."

Winter was a member of Germany's gold medal winning team at the 2006 European Junior Championships, and had also won two team silver medals and one bronze at the European Young Rider Championships.

At senior level, he was 13th in Luhmühlen at the 2011 European Championships and 18th last year in Malmö, Sweden.

Together with Ispo, he won the CIC2* eventing competition at Luhmühlen in April this year.

The FEI has said that a full investigation has been launched following the incident.

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