‘I’m a frequent flyer!’ Five-star eventer steps up fundraising for air ambulance with Halloween ball
A rider who has been saved three times by the air ambulance has raised thousands of pounds for the charity
An event rider who joked that she is a “frequent flyer” with the air ambulance is stepping up her fundraising efforts for those who have saved her three times.
Louise Harwood is organising a Halloween charity ball, to feature live music, fancy dress prizes and a raffle, in aid of the Midlands Air Ambulance charity at Luctonians Rugby Club in Kingsland, Herefordshire, on 30 October.
Louise has stepped back from eventing and turned more to showjumping since she had a bad fall at Blenheim in 2024. She was taken to hospital by land ambulance on that last occasion, but has been supported by the air ambulance on other occasions.
She told H&H she has “gained a few extra air miles” since she was first picked up by the charity’s paramedics in 1999.
“I’m a frequent flyer – it’s not something to brag about!” she said. “Every year since my first rescue by the air ambulance I have vowed to try and do something to say thank you to show my appreciation to this amazing charity and the service they provide.”
The 1999 rescue came after Louise was in a road traffic accident in Herefordshire. She was cut out of her car and flown to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.
“I was coming back from Bristol. I think I’d been eventing a friend’s horse and was going home to ride mine – when I should have been going home to revise for my finals – managed to get in a car crash and was flown back to Bristol!” she said. “I was in intensive care and the high-dependency unit for a few days.”
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While she was in hospital, and “in complete denial about the open leg fractures, dislocations broken ribs, punctured lung and face and leg lacerations,” the London Marathon was on television, and Louise said she planned to run that the following year in aid of the air ambulance.
“Doctors were saying ‘We don’t know if you’ll ever walk again, ride again’,” she said. “I was quite into running and they said they didn’t think I’d do that again. But if anyone tells me I can’t do something, it’s ‘Come on then’! You could feel sorry for yourself but you’re best to set yourself a target and get better.”
Louise did exactly that; she was riding within weeks, then trained for the race the next year. There were setbacks: “The metalwork in my knee suddenly came out through the skin one day while I was at Solihull Horse Trials, so they had to take that out. Then the plate in my ankle got infected and had to come out,” she said. “It was tricky, but we got there.”
Louise raised £4,500 for the air ambulance then, and £1,000 for Spinal Research.
“You’re so grateful that they pick you up and take you somewhere to get treated properly,” she said. “I’ve always felt that as it’s not funded by the Government, every time you get taken up in the air ambulance, you should do your bit to fundraise to pay back for your little trip, and it would all be self-funded then, wouldn’t it?”
Louise’s second flight was after she was bucked off a young horse at home, in 2015.
“They took me to Hereford hospital that time, so it was only a short flight, but that was a broken pelvis, which really hurt. It was gross,” she said. “So I was very glad to not be bouncing around in a land ambulance.”
Louise has also run quizzes and auctions of promises, as well as cycling 150 miles from Badminton to Burghley with other event riders in 2020, which raised about £12,000.
And in 2024, she needed the charity’s services again, after she was poo-picking at home and fell off her muck trailer while emptying a wheelbarrow.
“How clumsy was that?” She said. “I don’t know what I was doing; eight-foot fall, smashed skull and broken spine. So clumsy!”
Louise also volunteers for the charity and helps at local events but wanted to do more.
“I wanted to go bigger and better,” she said. “I hadn’t got to as many of the collecting events as I’d like, and I had a mad rush of blood to the head!
“It gets a bit boring in October, end of the eventing season, not much going on. It’s going to be an amazing night; we’ve got prizes for the best outfit, the best dressed table, amazing raffle prizes and a great band and food. Where on earth else do you find an amazing party at this time of year?!
“And we’re all so grateful for the services the air ambulance provides. Just about everyone knows someone who’s been picked up and the rest of us don’t know when we might need it.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.