Joseph Fiennes’ appearance on a travel-themed podcast this week took a surprisingly somber turn when the “Handmaid’s Tale” actor recalled witnessing a horseback-riding accident while visiting Costa Rica.
In an interview with “Travel Secrets” that premiered Tuesday, Fiennes explained how he comforted the victim of a “most unexpected, horrific accident” which left him unable to sleep for about a month.
“I love horse riding, and I got on a horse early in the morning to go with a fellow traveler who was staying at the hacienda,” he told host Tanya Rose. “She had just gotten married, and I remember getting up on the horse. It was getting quite hot, going into the shade, looking back, seeing this lovely woman kiss her husband goodbye.”
“And then the horse reared up,” he continued, “and she sadly pulled on the reins and the weight of the horse came over, and the whole horse landed on her and she fell back and really broke her head on the gravel and died.”
Fiennes didn’t identify the victim by name, nor did he offer details as to when the accident may have taken place. Still, he’s come to view the moment as a reminder to stay present in the moment.
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“In an instant, you’re reminded that anything can happen,” he said. “I held her for a while, her poor husband was in such shock that he couldn’t comprehend or communicate. And she slipped away.”
He also recalled a conversation he and his late father, Mark Fiennes, had about how the nuances of training could later impact a horse’s behavior.
“When I got back, my dad did say, ‘You can never be entirely sure how horses are trained.’ Maybe it saw a snake, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it got scared of something. But it could be the way certain horses are trained, it can get beaten into submission a bit, they can be very temperamental so you have to be super careful.”
The accident, however, hasn’t impacted Fiennes’ view of Costa Rica as a travel destination. Elsewhere in his “Travel Secrets” chat, the actor praised the Central American nation as “one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to.”
“You can go to the rainforest in the same day you can go down and surf,” he said. “Some of the beaches are wild, authentic, beautiful, untouched, remote ― and that really speaks to me. It’s beautiful.”
Listen to Joseph Fiennes’ “Travel Secrets” interview here. His remarks about his “most unexpected” travel experience begin around the 12:07 mark.
