A WOMAN who thought she would never ride again after she was dragged underneath a horse and had both legs amputated is back in the saddle and determined to compete at the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.
Doctors told Jane Lishman that she should have died following horrific injuries suffered in September 2006.
Now 46, and confined to a wheelchair, she is winning competitions against able-bodied riders and has her sights set on securing a place on the GB Para Dressage team.
She had been worming a horse when a rope she was using rode up between her legs, spooking the horse which broke into a run and dragged her underneath it around a field, while the rope cut deeper into her groin.
The swift response of the Great North Air Ambulance Service was credited with saving the life of the former point-to-point yard worker, who spent a month in a coma and four months being treated in hospital.
As well as a collapsed lung she contracted a soil infection which resulted in the amputation of both her legs.
“At the end of the day I sort of died,” said Miss Lishman. “I should have died. A doctor told me I should have died so this is a second chance.”
After riding most of her life she was undaunted by her disabilities and desperate to rekindle her love of horses.
A specialist mounting hoist enabled her to get onto a horse and soon she regained her balance and learnt how to trot all over again.
“I was apprehensive, but I wasn’t frightened about getting back on a horse again. People tell me I’m brave, but I don’t think of myself as that,” explained Miss Lishman, who lives with her partner in Darlington.
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