My name is Natalie and I’m a Paramedic with KSS, as well as being a former patient. I was thrown from my horse in 2010 whilst riding in Camber near Rye. It was the early afternoon and I was cantering on my then five-year-old gelding Bonnet, when he caught his front leg in a rabbit hole in a field near home. I was thrown over his head and onto the ground.
I woke up on the floor and couldn’t understand what had happened or where I was. Bonnet hadn’t run off and was stood next to me.
My phone was in my pocket and fortunately I had numbers on speed dial so quickly got hold of my boyfriend who was at my house. I said I’d fallen off and had hit my head but didn’t know where I was.
He told me to stay where I was and that he was coming to get me. I don’t remember making that call. I then rang my sister but didn’t know it was her I was talking to.
My sister had called 999 and my colleagues at Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex were then also called, because of my location and injuries to my head and wrist. I was found on Romney Marsh and taken by car to my parents’ house on the beach at Camber, as it was near and my horse was returned uninjured back to his stable.
The air ambulance landed on the beach, I was examined and diagnosed with concussion and possible wrist fracture. I was flown to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and discharged later that day but was off work for a month following the accident.
I remember being lucid for a period and wondering why a pilot was in my parents’ living room. The crew were very thorough and caring.
I’ve been riding since the age of four and it was a freak accident which could happen to anyone.
