A horse rider was ‘millimetres’ from death after her stallion kicked her ‘square in the face’.
Becca Brown, 33, was riding her Dutch warmblood Gibson after eight weeks of rest when he bucked and kicked her with his metal-booted hoof.
The Royal Navy officer was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with a cracked skull, fractured cheek bones, eye sockets and smashed nose.
She had to undergo a seven-hour operation to rebuild the bridge of her nose and pin her broken eye sockets after the incident on February 4.
Her nose was so badly broken consultants compared it to ‘sticking cornflakes together’.
The operation included taking a bone graft from her hip and using metal ‘links’ to hold her eye sockets together.
But just a fortnight later she is out of hospital and looking to ride Gibson again.
Becca Brown, 33, was riding her Dutch warmblood Gibson after eight weeks of rest when he bucked and kicked her with his metal-booted hoof
The 33-year-old was ‘millimetres’ from death after her stallion kicked her ‘square in the face’ (pictured riding Gibson)
Recalling the incident Ms Brown said: ‘It was a totally normal Sunday. I was turning out my horse after a period of box rest and wasn’t doing anything exceptional or dangerous.
‘Gibson’s a strong competition horse with a very active mind, so being on box rest in a 12 x 12 ft stable was frustrating and boring for him.
‘He was a bit like a schoolchild when it’s been wet play at school. It was like he’d had eight weeks of wet play and he was excited.
‘We walked him to the field and he was jogging slightly but perfectly calm then we approached some muddy areas around fences.
‘He hates the mud so we use a lunge rope to help but because it was muddy it was sucking my wellies from my feet. I was trying to cross the mud myself while holding on to Gibson then I just saw a hoof.
‘He’d launched a few seconds before I was ready and he bucked and kicked out with joy, catching me square in the face.
Ms Brown had to undergo a seven-hour operation to rebuild the bridge of her nose and pin her broken eye sockets after the incident on February 4
‘In terms of his weight and power, to put the kick into perspective, he is 610kg and as a show jumper, we’ve trained him specifically to have huge power in his hind legs. He can jump 1.3 metres without trying.
‘This, and the fact he was wearing metal shoes, made the impact even worse.’
Ms Brown was conscious throughout as her trainer Sarah, who had accompanied her almost to the field, called an ambulance.
‘I knew it was bad instantly,’ she said. ‘There was blood pouring out, I’d felt my nose go when he got me and my sight went almost instantly, because of the swelling.’
She added: ‘I could still think and move. I managed to walk to the ambulance because they couldn’t get the stretcher through the mud.’
Just two weeks after the accident Ms Brown is out of hospital and recovering at her parents’ house
Her nose was so badly broken consultants compared it to ‘sticking cornflakes together’
The 33-year-old was taken to the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where three-dimensional CT scans showed the extent of the damage.
She was stitched up and stabilised until it was possible to carry out the reconstructive surgery.
‘They said there were millimetres in it. If the kick had done any more damage and the bone fragments had gone into my brain, I’d have died,’ Ms Brown said.
Just two weeks after the accident Ms Brown is out of hospital and recovering at her parents’ house.
She has had to take time off from her job in the Navy and put Gibson on to full livery while she is unable to ride.
‘I’m a survivor’, she said. ‘I want to get better and help Gibson recover too so we can get back to competing.’