A young eventer who sustained two open fractures in a freak fall last year forcing her out of the saddle for six months, has rounded off her final year on ponies on a high.
North Yorkshire-based Emily Worsdale, 16, was preparing for the Bishop Burton international youth championships last July, when her home-bred pony Miss Winifred Wilde was spooked by a pheasant during a schooling session in the field, resulting in the mare slipping and falling.
Emily suffered two open fractures of her tibia and fibula and needed surgery to insert pins and rods into her leg.
“Winnie lost her footing, landed on top of me and my bone snapped outside of my leg. I had to learn to walk with a zimmer frame and I wasn’t allowed to ride for six months,“ Emily told H&H.
“I’ve always been the one to ride Winnie so we gave her the time off while I recovered. I was itching to get back on and when I did in January I was so happy, I don’t think I’ve ever smiled that much on a horse.”
Emily said the original plan had been to sell Winnie last year as she moved on to horses, but it was decided to keep her one more year so she was getting back on a familiar pony after her time out of the saddle. The pair’s 2022 season started at Lincolnshire in March where they finished on their dressage score in the BE100Open for 11th place.
“We had missed most of the winter training so we had to use our early events as our training,” said Emily, who was again selected for the Bishop Burton international youth championships this autumn, after missing the competition last year.
“We’ve had a great season, I couldn’t ask for any more. We were fourth in the two-star at Cornbury on 8th September and finished on our dressage score – she was insane.”
Winnie will be sold as Emily makes the step up to horses, with hopes of running her own event yard in the future.
“I’ve ridden Winnie her whole life, we’ve produced each other. She means everything to me and it will be hard when the time comes for her to move on,” said Emily.
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