Rider was left an inch from death after horse kicked her in the face
‘I don’t remember the pain’
A RoyAL Navy officer was left ‘millimetres from death’ after being kicked in the face by her beloved horse.
Becca Brown was preparing to exercise the Dutch Warmblood called Gibson which had just endured two months of stable confinement.
But the 96-stone stallion, which was wearing metal shoes, bucked and kicked her ‘square in the face’, leaving her with a cracked skull and fractured cheek bones and eye sockets.
The impact also broke her nose so badly that doctors compared repairing the damage to ‘sticking cornflakes together’. Surgeons said the 33-yearold, from Newton Abbot, Devon, was lucky to survive the accident, which happened earlier this month.
They said bone fragments came within millimetres of her brain and that if they had penetrated any further they would have killed her.
Miss Brown, who works as a logistics officer with the Navy, owns Gibson but keeps him at a livery stable.
She 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 12ft by 12ft stable was frustrating and boring for him.’
Gibson had been forced to rest after sustaining a minor injury eight weeks earlier. But it was not long before the eight-year- old showjumper began to get overexcited.
Concerned her horse would injure himself again, Miss Brown decided to administer a small dose of Sedalin, a horse sedative. The pair then carried on with the lesson, but the accident occurred when Miss Brown led Gibson over a muddy patch of ground.
‘He hates the mud so we use a rope to help but because it was muddy it was sucking my wellies from my feet,’ she said. ‘I was trying to cross the mud myself while holding on to Gibson then I just saw a hoof.’
Miss Brown was wearing a riding hat but the strength of Gibson and his metal boots still managed to inflict horrendous damage. Miraculously, she remained conscious throughout the ordeal.
‘Normally in these cases people will be knocked out or not remember anything. I don’t remember the pain as much as the complete loss of sight,’ she said. ‘I could still think and move. I managed to walk to the ambulance because they couldn’t get the stretcher through the mud.
‘I knew Sarah my trainer was behind me so I just shouted “Sarah, I need an ambulance”. If she hadn’t been there I would have had to crawl back to the livery myself.’ She was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and a CT scan was carried out. Surgeons worked on her injuries for seven hours and 42 staples were used to secure Miss Brown’s gums, eyes and head.
‘They [doctors] said there were millimetres in it,’ she added. ‘If the kick had done any more damage and the bone fragments had gone into my brain, I’d have died.’ After a week in hospital, Miss Brown is now recovering at her parents’ house. Gibson is staying with a trainer to keep up his exercise regime.
But despite the severity of her injuries, Miss Brown is determined to get back in the saddle. ‘Gibson is still my pet and I’m his “mummy”’, she said.
‘He didn’t mean for this to happen. I want to get better and help Gibson recover too so we can get back to competing.’