Dead rider found in Devon country lane by holidaymakers
Holidaymakers found the body of a 60-year-old rider in a Devon country lane on Thursday (30 September).
The visitors came across a riderless but tacked 14hh chestnut mare in Quarry Lane, Beer, at 12.30pm and the body of experienced rider Gillian Ashley nearby.
They called the emergency services and tried to revive Mrs Ashley but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
A post mortem examination showed she fractured her spine by falling from her horse.
Mrs Ashley, a grandmother, who had ridden for 40 years, was wearing a riding hat and body protector.
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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.