A rider who got “tangled in legs and reins” in a hacking fall is trying to raise awareness around head injuries and the impact they can have.
Jodie Saunders suffered a bleed on the brain when she fell from a friend’s horse in March 2019. She told H&H she is mainly recovered, and now wants to help others.
“‘What happened to me was just one of those things,” she said. “It all happened for a reason and I wouldn’t be where I am if it hadn’t happened. But I just want to hopefully help other people in the same situation.”
Jodie worked for the Fox-Pitts, then went to Hartpury University to study equine sports science, with a view of working in the industry. It was while she was studying that she took her friend’s 17.2hh five-year-old for a hack to help out.
“It’s one of those things you think will never happen,” she said. “I don’t remember it but the horse had one of those moments; leapt and bucked, and I got flung into the air, came back down and got tangled in legs and reins. If you’re going cross-country or hunting, it’s more likely but this was just a walking hack.”
Jodies said at the time of her diagnosis, she did not fully appreciate the seriousness of such head injuries.
“But for the first few months, I was at home, very much reliant on my parents,” she said. “I couldn’t really walk on my own, or stay awake. It was only when I started getting a bit better that I realised it wasn’t going to be a quick fix – I realised the lasting effects that came with it.”
Jodie, who had to deal with extreme fatigue and changed emotions among her symptoms, said the support offered by brain injury charity Headway was invaluable, as was the understanding of friends who had been through similar.
“There’s so much to it,” she said. “Horse people are very much ‘Fall off and get back on’ but I couldn’t. I couldn’t drive for 12 months so I was reliant on people; I was very lucky to have that support but it was frustrating. I tried to go back to university and they were amazing but I just couldn’t do it. It was a case of ‘Where am I going to go with my life now?’ Horses had been my life and all of a sudden, that wasn’t going to be the case.”
Jodie was referred to a specialist brain injury unit, and said occupational therapy was beneficial, but “it wasn’t till I went back to the yard that I got my confidence back, and it gave me hope again.”
Jodie wanted to go back to work, so got a bar job, but found it impossible to learn new skills in such a loud environment, so she went back to the Fox-Pitts’, where she knew what she was doing, and was supported by them to be able to do her job.
She is now working for estate agent Spencers, which is supporting the New Forest Polo Club and helping raise money for its 2023 charity Headway, culminating in the Kuseyo Cup weekend of 12-13 August.
“I’ve been very lucky,” Jodie said. “I do get tired occasionally still and a bit confused, but if I hadn’t had my hat on, I wouldn’t be here. I was extremely lucky and fortunate to receive help and support from the Fox-Pitts. My recovery has been hugely helped by the polo world and my confidence riding again has come from riding a polo pony, Orpheus; we are out competing in local low-level dressage competitions and he is very cool!
“Polo and the people in polo have helped me tremendously to get where I am today which is why I am organising the polo match on 13 August, for Headway and to help raise awareness.”
Jodie thinks recent research and Government focus on head injuries and concussion have been beneficial in helping spread the word, but the more awareness, the better.
“I look the same and am still me and people didn’t really understand it, but it happens all the time; something like every 90 seconds, someone suffers a brain injury, which is crazy,” she said. “We need more understanding.”
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