I’ll conquer horse fear to help hero lifesavers
Published: March 14, 2007
Lying in hospital after a freak horse riding accident, Gillian Carter feared she would never ride again.
What started as a birthday treat turned into her worst nightmare after she was catapulted from her horse.
Mrs Carter landed face down in sand dunes on a remote beach in Hayling Island and was knocked out.
The 29-year-old’s neck and back were badly injured and she suffered a broken vertebra. She also needed stitches inside her mouth, above her eye, in her lips and chin.
The accident left her with a fear of riding, but she will now jump back onto the saddle to raise cash for the Lee-on-Solent Coastguard and Royal National Lifeboat Institution teams who rescued her.
The mum-of-one, from Winstanley Road, Stamshaw, Portsmouth, said: ‘It was terrifying. Just seeing other people on horses makes me nervous. I’m petrified but I need to get back on a horse and I can’t think of a better reason than to raise money for the people who helped me.
‘It could so easily have been so much worse.’
Portsmouth lifeguards, who were out at sea near Gunners Point where the accident happened, rushed to save the woman.
The lifeboat crew stayed with Mrs Carter and waited for the Lee-on-Solent coastguard helicopter, which airlifted her to Horsea Island from the remote stretch of beach.
She was then rushed to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, where she was left bed-ridden for weeks.
The last thing she remembers from the accident on August 16 last year was noticing a pot-hole shortly before being thrown to the ground.
‘My horse’s hoof got caught,’ she said. ‘He obviously didn’t like it because he threw me off and bolted. I landed on my head and was knocked unconscious. When I came round I didn’t know where I was.’
Mrs Carter now plans to complete a sponsored ride.
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