The parents of a 5-year-old girl killed in a rodeo parade were never told there were age limits for children allowed to ride in the event, the child’s grandmother says.

Brielle Boisvert’s parents, Tom and Linda Donnell Boisvert, are upset at implications that they may have knowingly violated parade rules that forbid children younger than 8 from riding a horse in the event, Cindy Boisvert said Friday.

She was the youngest of the couple’s four children.

Brielle was on a horse riding with three older girls as part of the Sonoita Rodeo Royalty entry in the Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo Parade on Thursday.

A team of runaway horses pulling a wagon slammed into her horse. She was thrown when her horse reared up, and she was trampled by the out-of-control team, authorities said. She died later at a hospital.

Friends described her as an accomplished rider who had competed in junior rodeos and horse shows in the Sonoita area, southeast of Tucson.

Police said they have interviewed at least 34 witnesses and reviewing eight videos taken by local news media and parade spectators in an effort to learn what spooked the two-horse team.


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