William Fox-Pitt back in the saddle after serious fall
William Fox-Pitt has got back in the saddle for the first time since his serious fall at Le Lion d’Angers in October.
His wife Alice posted a Christmas message on Twitter today, which shows William riding in an indoor arena in a short video.
“I set myself a target of before Christmas [to ride] and happily I’ve been able to do that,” said William.
In the video William also thanks his fans for their support during the past few weeks and says he intends to start working the horses properly in the new year.
The Olympic eventer suffered a head trauma when he fell at fence 20, an owl hole, on the cross-country at Le Lion d’Angers while riding Reinstated on 17 October.
He spent three weeks in a French hospital before flying back to the UK on 9 November to continue his treatment.
“I would like to thank all the doctors in France from the team at Le Lion d’Angers to those who looked after me in the ICU in Angers,” he said at the time.
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“The rehab team in Poole General Hospital have been incredibly thorough.
“The team at home have been doing an amazing job keeping everything going but luckily everything is quiet as the horses are all on their end of season break.
“I am looking forward to making a full recovery over the winter.”
William was competing in the seven-year-old CCI2* class at the FEI/WBFSH world championships for young horses when the accident happened.
The horse, who he first competed in May 2014 at Chatsworth, was not injured in the fall.
The 46-year-old is one of Britain’s most successful eventers of all time. He has won Badminton Horse Trials twice and Burghley six times.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.