Seavington master makes steady progress in hospital
Seavington joint-master Jereme Darke is making a steady recovery in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, after fracturing his skull last month.
Mr Darke, who is a vet in Evershot, Somerset, was tuberculin testing when a heifer kicked a metal gate into his face on 9 January.
The 45-year-old fell backward, hitting his head on concrete.
He sustained a fractured skull, brain haemorrhage and severe facial injuries.
He was airlifted to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and has spent a month in intensive care, with a brain drain and tracheotomy tube.
But as H&H went to press, a spokesman for his practice, Synergy Farm Health Veterinary Services, reported that he will soon be moved out of intensive care on to a high-dependency ward.
The spokesman said: “The neurosurgeons are very pleased with his progress and will be handing over to the physiotherapists and nurses for the next rehabilitation phase.”
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Mr Darke has been a joint-master of the Seavington since 2009.
Hunt secretary Tony Collins said: “It’s our hunt ball on Saturday and, like all the masters, Jereme turns out in his red tails. It is a real shame he will not be with us this year.”
And joint-master Charlotte Jackson added: “The ball will be less colourful, not only for the lack of his tails but also his personality.
“Jereme is an incredibly hands-on and involved master and is much missed.”
This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (9 February 2012)
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.