In her new book 'Where did I go?', eventer Polly Williamson recounts the day a dramatic incident with a young horse left her with a horrific head injury — and how she has put her life back together again five years on

I can’t remember anything about ‘the accident‘. My last memory is of competing at the West Wilts Equestrian Centre in the morning. I see a snapshot. I’m standing with my good friend Pete Coote, watching a mare in the showjumping, my interest sparked as the horse had been in my training for the past year.

However, hugely talented though she was, I had sent her back to her owner. I didn’t trust her temperament. I didn’t feel wholly safe riding her. I was unsure I should continue training her, so I had sent her back. Now she was being ridden by an established international rider. Had I made the right decision? Should I have persevered? No, I assured myself. I have a responsibility to my children.

That was my last tangible thought for the next seven weeks. How ironic that three hours later I was riding a horse I did trust and was happy to train, when a freak accident took place.

I have survived endless horse falls over the years. Most of them insignificant though two or three had been more dramatic. I had seen them on film as they were at notable venues. Badminton, Blenheim, Aintree.

This fall was not so glamorous. There was also no playback on film so what I know is what I have been told. I was simply training a young horse in the menage at Charlton Park. No jumps were involved. The horse had been playing, messing around a little, alas he slipped and fell over. He panicked. He found himself on the floor with his rider still in the saddle. He scrambled to right himself, crazily thrashing out, hind hoofs became canons flying in all directions with no control. One caught me square in the head. The deed was done. I was out cold.

But the gods were with me. I was not alone, my 18-year-old student Daisy Charlier was riding with me at the time. She instantly leapt down from her horse, ran over to my unconscious body, placed her coat over me and, with no mobile at hand, raced back to the yard with her horse in tow. My horse had galloped off. The first people she saw were two lads who worked on the farm, Chris Edwards and Jason Woods. They sprinted to the arena and quickly phoned 999. Daisy then saw Linda Suffolk, my landlady and good friend.

“Polly’s had an accident! She’s unconscious!”

‘Drama unfolded’

Linda was quickly by my side. Drama unfolded. Within 15 minutes an anaesthetist arrived, instantly assessing the situation. A call for a helicopter was made before the anaesthetist administered the necessary drugs to ventilate me and place my body into an induced coma. My landlord Mickey arrived, quickly followed by Frankie, who worked for me, and Hec.

Long minutes passed before the helicopter arrived. But the gusty wind had picked up and with dusk rapidly approaching the pilot radioed down to the first response medic.

“It’s too windy. We can’t risk it.”

“You can land,” Mickey yelled, “helicopters land here all the time. I’m a pilot. I know. Come on. She must be flown to hospital!”

But the pilot was insistent and flew away.

The road ambulance arrived and I was taken to Frenchay Hospital just outside Bristol with Hec following in his car. My husband Tobe was called and after checking the children had care and that Katherine, who worked for me, would stay with them, he too drove to the Accident and Emergency department at Frenchay, meeting Hec in the waiting room.

For over an hour they sat surveying the normal range of cuts, bruises and breaks that typify early evening in A&E not knowing my situation. Eventually they were ushered into a side room, the focal point being a table where a single telephone was placed. The atmosphere had changed and instantly felt ominous. Painful seconds ticked by before a doctor and nurse entered and immediately sat down, followed by a request for Tobe to confirm my name and date of birth. Such detail only compounded the gravity of the moment.

Tobe can’t recall exactly what was said next. The word injury cartwheeled into serious and crashed into head with the word brain flying alongside traumatic. There was a pause while the totality of it all collided. The next questions were almost peremptory. “How bad?” was met with “not good”. “Only the head?” was met with “also the spine”. “What next?” was inevitably answered with “more tests”. “What sort?” was met with “pressing ones”.

Tobe, his breath having been sucked out of his body, was asked to sign various forms giving the doctors permission to place probes into my skull in order to determine exactly what was happening inside my head. My condition was serious, the immediate task for the doctors was to stop it becoming unstable.

Tobe rang my sister. A tricky conversation to have. The facts were still few but the interpretations can be many. The consultant had not ruled out any outcome. Was that because he didn’t know what they were dealing with or conversely because he knew the consequences of serious injury only too well?

After an hour, Tobe was invited to come and see me, the nurse preparing him well warning that I wouldn’t look like normal. There were a mass of tubes and wires surrounding my bed, each leading to some part of my head, neck or arm. I was lying prone, legs slightly raised and with a neck brace fitted. A bank of machines beeped, with figures and graphs telling the experts what they needed to know. My coma score was five (extremely low), and I lay still, eyes closed and unresponsive.

Tory rang our Mother. It was past 8pm by this point and Mum immediately left with my stepfather, Geoff, for the three hour drive from Cheshire. A long, scary drive made worse by the M5 being closed that night due to a crash. Tory also could not drive to Frenchay knowing that the couple of glasses of wine she had drunk would place her over the limit.

She sensibly rang our great friend, Alex Connors, knowing that Alex would be someone you could rely on in a crisis (not a General’s daughter for nothing) and Alex drove to Frenchay, staying with Tobe for much of that dreadful night and becoming a complete stalwart in the months to come.

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Eventer Polly Williamson in an induced coma

I survived the night. Over the next 10 days or so Tobe, Mum and Tory took it in turns to sit with me, a truly frightening experience for them. There were two other patients in the intensive care area, one of them died while Tobe was by my side.

‘I have no memory of that time’

The medics cared for me, my family remained by my side and our friends rose to the challenge and offered incredible support to Tobe. I was in a coma for 11 days, then a high dependency ward before I was finally moved to the neighbouring Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit on 5 January.

But I have no memory of that time. It was three months later, once my memory had returned, that Tobe brought me a copy of the email reports he had regularly sent out to keep all our family and friends updated on my progress, as I was now continuously asking him for information concerning my accident and the weeks I had spent at Frenchay Hospital.

I remember Tobe giving me these emails and indeed I remember trying to read them, but my brain was too muddled at the time. My eyesight was fine but I couldn’t concentrate for long enough to unscramble the words and place them in any order. Some six months later I picked up the emails again, read them and had some understanding of the missing seven weeks from my life.

Where did I go? by Polly Williamson, with a foreword by HRH The Princess Royal

Price: £8.99

Publisher: Crumps Barn Studio

Visit: www.crumpsbarnstudio.co.uk or www.amazon.co.uk

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A former four-star event rider who suffered a traumatic brain injury has written a book about her recovery.

Polly Williamson had a serious fall from a young horse in December 2011.

She was riding at home on her yard in Malmesbury, Wilts, when the horse slipped, fell and panicked when he couldn’t get up.

One of his hooves caught Polly on her head and she also broke three vertebrae.

She spent a month in hospital and three months in a rehabilitation unit at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

The book — titled Where Did I Go? — follows how she relearnt to walk and think following the accident.

Polly revealed the news about her new book on social media on Thursday (10 December).

“Two years ago Alison Booth turned to me and said ‘you should write a book’,” Polly said.

“We were talking briefly about my accident so I went home and started to write.”

After finishing a first draft, she shelved the idea while she began her return to teaching.

This summer, Polly sent the manuscript to three publishing houses.

The former junior and young rider European eventing champion has now signed a deal with publishers Crumps Brown Studio, who will be releasing it as an eBook in March and in paperback in April.

Polly will also be speaking at charity Headway — the Brain Injury Association’s conference in March.

“Thank you all for your generous comments,” she said.

She added that writing came easily, but talking about it will be much harder.

During her competitive career, Polly won a total of six gold medals at junior and young rider European level.

She was ninth in her first Badminton in 1989 at the age of 20 and was also on the British squad that competed at the European Eventing Championships at Burghley that year.

Polly continues to train riders from Pony Club up to international level.

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Former event rider Polly Williamson — who suffered a severe head injury in 2011 — is planning to complete the Bath half marathon in March.

Polly hopes to run “with a lot of walking” in aid of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. She was a patient for 3 months, following a schooling fall at home.

“I spent my first 2 months in a wheelchair, but even with my poor balance they got me walking again,” she told H&H.

➤ To sponsor visit www.teampollymarathon.co.uk

This article was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (20 February 2014)

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Former event rider Polly Williamson — who suffered severe head injuries in a fall in December 2011 — is continuing to make steady progress, and was recently given back her driving licence.

“Being able to drive will make a big difference to her being able to build up her teaching, something she had started to focus more on before her accident,” said Polly’s sister, Tory Jowett.

Polly no longer rides, but horses she produced before her fall have been out winning this season. Stanly, partnered by Sophie Beaty, won the U18 national championships at Houghton and Smart Time, ridden by Dani Evans, won the CCI2* U25 at Tattersalls.

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (6 June 2013)

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Eventer Polly Williamson — who suffered a severe head injury in a fall last December — has written to H&H to thank the equestrian community for supporting her during the past year.

The former young rider European champion also cracked three vertebrae in the fall from a horse at her yard in Malmesbury, Wilts.

She spent a month in hospital — part of it in an induced coma — and four months in a rehabilitation unit.

In a letter published in this week’s H&H, Polly said the “incredible support” she had received, led by her “extraordinary family”, had meant a great deal.

Polly is now teaching pupils at clinics organised by a friend.

“I do about four or five lessons in a day,” she told H&H. “It doesn’t sound that much for a professional trainer but, bearing in mind where I was six months ago, it is progress and something I will build up.”

Polly cannot remember the accident and her first memories are of being moved to the rehab unit in January.

“I remember realising I was in a wheelchair and thinking, ‘I’ve got to get out of this thing!’

“I believe my natural determination, which I think every rider has, helped hugely,” she added.

Polly’s horses were sold earlier this year.

She is not riding and it is not, she says, one of her priorities. She plans to complete a driver awareness course next month to enable her to drive again and to build up her physical strength by increasing the amount of running she does.

“I seem to have complete concentration levels, but physically, it is like bringing a horse back from injury — little by little,” she said.

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (25 October 2012)

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Injured eventer Polly Williamson is making “brilliant” progress and hopes to be discharged from her brain injury rehab unit at the end of next month, or early May, say her family.

Polly, 43, was in a coma for 10 days following a fall at her yard in Malmesbury, Wilts, on 8 December.

Her mother, Susie Lyon-Heap told H&H it was “the news you dread most”.

“It was terrifying,” she said. “It took her a long time to come round, there was nothing for 10 days. The first glimmer was when she squeezed her sister’s hand.”

Three months after the accident, with intensive rehabilitation at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, Polly has turned the corner.

“She can now just about walk on her own and, mentally, she is fine,” said Mrs Lyon-Heap.

As Polly will not be able to ride in the short-to-medium term, her horses are being sold.

But Mrs Lyon-Heap said she had “no doubts” that her daughter would recover.

“She has that steely determination – it runs in the family,” she added.

Polly’s sister, Tory Jowett, said there was a “welcome change of luck” for the family when her mother’s horse won at the Wynnstay point-to-point last Sunday (11 March).

“It was wonderful for my mother, who has had a traumatic three months,” she said.

Mr Tiger, ridden and trained by Sam Allwood, won at Bangor on only his second run.

The six-year-old is by Emperor Fountain out of Mrs Jowett’s mare Thamesdown Tootsie, on whom she won five ladies’ open point-to-points in the 1990s.

“It was absolutely thrilling,” said Mrs Lyon-Heap. “I have watched both my daughters win enormous cups over the years but it’s the first time I’ve been handed one.”

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (22 March)

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Event rider Polly Williamson’s horses are being sold, as she continues her rehabilitation following a fall.

Polly suffered head injuries and three cracked vertebrae at her yard at Charlton Park, Wilts.

It is thought that her horse may have spooked in high winds and fallen on her.

The four horses she owned are advertised in H&H (8 March, p69) and her owners have sent their horses to other riders.

Hec Fetherstonhaugh, who worked for Polly, said she was doing “amazingly well with her recovery”, but added: “She is not going to ride in the short-to-medium term.”

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (8 March 2012)

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The long-term prognosis for event rider Polly Williamson remains unclear, although her condition continues to improve.

Polly, 41, suffered head injuries and three broken vertebrae when her horse spooked in high winds and fell on her at her yard near Malmesbury last month.

She was wearing her crash hat at the time.

Her sister Tory Jowett told H&H that Polly was making “steady progress”.

Mrs Jowett said: “She is recognising family and friends and is very chatty, asking often about her children Freddie and Jack and wanting to know if everything is running smoothly at the yard at Charlton Park.

“She told me she was bored the other day and the nurses say she keeps trying to get out of bed.”

Doctors at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol put Polly into a coma after the accident on 8 December to allow the fluid and bruising to her head to subside.

Polly, a former young rider European champion, was transferred from the high-dependency ward to the rehabilitation unit at Frenchay last Thursday.

She is expected to stay there for some months.

Mrs Jowett said: “Some of her horses may be sold, as she is unlikely to ride again in the near future, but the door at Charlton Park is being kept open.

“It is hoped that, in time, Polly will be able to utilise her excellent teaching talents and experience in other areas of the sport.”

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (12 January 2012)

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Eventer Polly Williamson – who remains seriously ill following a fall – has made some progress, say her family.

The Wiltshire-based rider, 41, has been in an induced coma in hospital in Bristol since the accident on 8 December.

It’s not clear exactly what happened, but it appears that the horse may have spooked and fallen on Polly in the very high winds earlier this month. She suffered a serious head injury and broke three vertebrae.

Her sister, Tory Jowett, told H&H that Polly had “inched forward on a journey of miles” in the past couple of days.

Mrs Jowett said: “She is focusing with her right eye, responds to us by a squeeze of the right hand and there is a hint of a smile.

“She appears to know it is us when we visit.”

Polly, n ©e Lyon, is a former junior and young rider European champion. She is married with two young sons.

The Lyon and Williamson families say they have received an “overwhelming” number of messages from well-wishers.

Mrs Jowett told H&H: “It is still far too early for the medics to make an accurate long-term prognosis, but things are looking more encouraging.”

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The family of eventer Polly Williamson – who remains in an induced coma, following a fall – have thanked well-wishers for their messages of support.

Polly, 41, suffered a serious head injury and broke three veterbrae in an accident at her yard in Wiltshire on 8 December.

The details of the accident remain sketchy, but it is thought that Polly’s horse may have spooked and fallen on her during the very high winds earlier this month.

Mrs Williamson’s sister, Tory Jowett, told H&H:

“Polly’s condition remains serious but stable. She has yet to regain consciousness.

“We would like to thank the overwhelming number of well-wishers for their kind messages.”

Polly, ne © Lyon, won six European gold medals when she was in junior and young rider teams, taking individual and team gold in 1987 (junior), 1988 and 1990 (young rider).

She is married, with two young sons.

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Wiltshire event rider Polly Williamson, 41, is in an induced coma in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol after a fall on Thursday.

The four-star rider, who is a former young rider European champion, broke three vertebrae and suffered a serious head injury when her horse spooked during high winds and fell onto her.

Friend of the family Angela Tucker said the doctors are waiting for fluid and bruising to her head to subside.

“The doctors are not concerned about the broken vertebrae but just don’t know [the extent of her head injuries] at the moment,” said Mrs Tucker.

“She might be absolutely fine – we just have to wait and see.”

Polly won six European gold medals when she was in young rider teams, taking individual and team gold in 1987, 1988 and 1990.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now