Fallen rider waits hours for help

Yvonne Brown said at first she was more worried about her horse

A 19-year-old from Nottinghamshire injured in a fall from her horse has been describing how she waited five hours to be rescued.

Yvonne Brown suffered a hip injury and internal bleeding but has now left hospital after the accident in Awsworth nearly three weeks ago.

She was eventually airlifted to hospital after her horse Scooby Doo was spotted riderless.

Ms Brown may take a year to recover, but looks forward to riding again.

She said: "Luckily (the horse) ran straight home otherwise I'd been there all day and night.

"At first, all I was thinking about was where he had got to. But after an hour or so I was more concerned about myself... I thought I was going to die. I don't cope well with heat."

Helicopter scrambled

A fisherman spotted Ms Brown's horse near a canal and called police.

Officers identified Nottingham Trent University student Ms Brown as the horse's owner through the post code on his saddle and called out search parties, including motorbikes and a helicopter.

However, it was as the helicopter made a sweep around the area not far from where the horse was found that the breakthrough in the search was made.

Helicopter pilot Andy Mortimore said: "We went across to a field as indicated by some information we had on the ground. We'd been over the field once but not seen anything.

"There was what seemed to be a cattle trough in the middle of the field. When I looked again I was fairly convinced I'd seen this thing move...and it turned out to be Yvonne."