EDDYVILLE – The Pope County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate a Saturday evening accident involving a horseback rider and a vehicle.

Sheriff Jerry Suits says dispatch received a call around 5:30 p.m. about the accident on Illinois 145 north near Bear Branch Campground north of Eddyville.

The vehicle struck the horseback rider and her horse. The rider was airlifted to a local hospital, then flown to a St. Louis hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.

As for the horse, the sheriff says a group showed up to care for the horse. The horse’s condition is not known.