A YOUNG woman told last night how her favourite riding hat saved her life when she was thrown from a horse head-first into a wall.
Jayne Emery, from Ellon, had the accident with her new horse Panda – short for Pandora – while competing at Fountain Equestrian Centre in Dyce.
The 20-year-old, who works as a groom for Douglas Edward at Berefold near Ellon, has been riding horses for 10 years – but nothing could have prepared her for the ordeal on Saturday morning.
During the dressage competition – which is an unlikely event for serious injuries as it involves no jumps and low speed – a stirrup fell off her saddle and Panda bolted out of control.
Miss Emery was thrown head-first into the wall and knocked unconscious. “It happened so quickly I didn’t have a chance to stop it,” she said.
“It’s hard to sit with two stirrups, never mind without one and being completely unaware of what’s going on.”
Her next memory was recovering consciousness at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where she was in a neck-brace, hooked up to a heart-rate monitor and had an intravenous drip in her right arm.
She said: “I was agitated and quite confused. I told the doctors a number of times that I was born in 1913 and I have vague recollections of pulling the drip out of my arm.”
Her mum Susan had been preparing to go on stage in front of 140 people as part of the pantomime production of Aladdin at Ellon Parish Church when she was called by a member of staff at ARI.
Mrs Emery said: “It was scary. All they told me was that she had been involved in an accident and was in A&E.
“When I saw her, she was just lying there – it was quite frightening.”
Miss Emery had been severely concussed in the accident and has been told to expect headaches for two weeks.
Her injury toll includes whiplash, a lump on the right-hand side of her head, a scratched face and bruises to her hips and knees.
The CT scans of her head and neck revealed she had no serious injuries, but she was kept overnight as a precaution before making it home at lunchtime on Sunday.
Despite the constant pain and need for prescription painkillers, she is desperate to get back in the saddle on Panda and return to work.
She said: “I can’t wait to get on and I can’t believe I have to wait two weeks.” The advice to stay off horses for a fortnight came with a terrifying warning from medical staff.
She said: “The doctor told me that people die from what seems like a minor head trauma after a severe concussion, so that’s why I’ve got to be so careful.”
Her greatest upset, after learning that Panda was unhurt except for a small scratch, was that her favourite riding hat would need to be replaced, but was relieved it did its job.
Miss Emery said: “It saved a fractured skull – maybe it’s best not to think what else it saved.”
She explained that it has become an increasing trend for riders not to wear a helmet at all times, saying: “I was on a perfectly safe horse and it was a freak accident. It just shows you that your hat is best on all of the time.
“If that had been my head minus a hat into that wall I don’t think it would have ended the same.
“I don’t think I’d be sat here if I didn’t have it on.”
In three weeks, she hopes to be unwrapping a new riding hat which now has taken the top spot on her Christmas list.