‘I couldn’t have done it without them’: double celebration for rider on first competition back after serious injury

A British event rider who broke her pelvis in six places in a fall in December made a stellar return to score a double of wins at her first competition since the accident.

Emma Carmichael topped the four-year-old Burghley Young Event Horse qualifier at Floors Castle with Renkum Sportsman, before celebrating her second win of the weekend aboard Leo Santos in an intermediate section at the same event.

Emma told H&H the result was “like a dream”, crediting her family, friends, team on the yard, British Eventing Support Trust and the Injured Jockeys Fund’s Jack Berry House for their help and support.

“The wins aren’t just my wins – they are for everyone else who has been involved, kept the show on the road and kept the horses going,” she said.

“I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Emma was riding on the beach before Christmas when the horse she was on flipped over in a “freak accident”, breaking her pelvis in six places. She spent 10 days in hospital, undergoing an operation to fit an external metal frame to her pelvis, before spending 11 weeks on crutches.

“It felt like forever, but when I look back, it’s gone very quickly. I’m very lucky that my body reacted so well and recovered so quickly,” she said.

“But mentally, I’m so used to being such a busy person – as all horse people are, you don’t really get a lot of time to kind of stop and slow down. Well, I didn’t have an option.”

Her team at home stepped up and “have ridden everything from breakers to four-star horses” while Emma taught them from the ground, while friends also helped out with riding.

“I’ve been lucky a few good friends were kind enough to take time out of their day to come and ride ones that were maybe a bit trickier, or needed more jumping,” she said, adding that Laura Fenwick and Amy Waugh did a lot of riding, and Jack Mantell stepped in to compete some at the start of the season.

“It was a big weight off my shoulders knowing that the horses, and the place, would keep going.”

Meanwhile, Emma focused on her own fitness and recovery.

“The British Eventing Support Trust has been brilliant all the way through, I can’t thank them enough for how much they’ve done to help me through,” she said, adding it was the trust that granted her the opportunity and funding for rehabilitation at Jack Berry House.

“I feel like I’m getting fitter and stronger all the time. It was just the icing on the cake to be out and for the horses to have gone as well as they could have done, and to get a couple of wins under my belt.”

Emma Carmichael: ‘I was desperate to keep him’

Emma’s young event horse class winner Renkum Sportsman joined her yard earlier this year for schooling and to sell.

“He arrived in January, when I couldn’t ride, and my girls did a lovely job of getting him going. I was desperate to sit on him and the first day I had a jump at home, he was the second horse I jumped,” she said. “I was desperate to keep him.”

Fiona Bell and Lesley Waugh came on board to secure the horse for Emma, and all three now co-own the Renkum Papillon son.

“I was really fortunate; I’m so glad they trusted my judgement and that it paid off – I thought he was good enough to qualify for the final at Burghley, but it’s hard to know how they’re going to react at their first big show like that. He was brilliant,” she said.

Emma’s original plan had been for a quieter return to eventing – one horse in a BE100 section at Richmond at the end of April. But with the fixture abandoned owing to water-logged ground, Floors was next on the calendar.

“Leo is a horse I know well, I’ve had him since he was five years old, he went to Le Lion last year, and I knew he was capable,” said Emma, adding “it all felt possible”.

“It was more a case that I didn’t know how my body was going to react. If he jumped in big, would I be able to sit to it? Would my balance be as good? Would I be able to absorb the movement as well as I used to? I know I’m not as fit and as strong as I was, but I’m definitely getting there.”

Emma found out she was in the lead before she set off across country and could only afford a handful of time-penalties on the seven-year-old gelding, owned by her mother, Elaine.

“I revved myself up to make sure I was on the ball, and I came out meaning business,” said Emma, adding the horse gave her a “fantastic ride”.

“I was desperate to go well and it was a huge relief when I finished. I thought, ‘I think I’ve done it’. I heard over the commentary I was in the lead as I was trotting towards my mum, she burst into tears and I burst into tears as well.

“I’m not normally one for getting emotional over happy things, like this. I think it was because it was such a big build up that when it happened, it was a big relief for all of us.”

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