FORMER rider and trainer Caroline Hutchinson is expected to make a full recovery from serious injuries she received in a recent fall from a horse on the Curragh.

She broke bones in her neck and back in the fall but her spinal cord was intact. Airlifted to Tallaght Hospital she is continuing her recovery in St Luke’s Hospital in Rathgar, Dublin. Although she must wear a neck and body brace for several months, Hutchinson learned this week that she would not need surgery.

“I have been very lucky and am so grateful to have escaped permanent injury,” she said. “I must thank Dr Adrian McGoldrick and all the medical team at Tallaght.”

Hutchinson believes her injuries could have been far worse if she had been moved before the paramedics arrived. “I was on the ground for two hours but that’s what saved me. The horse I was riding had spooked and turned head over heels on top of me. I actually heard my back break but I remained conscious and told people not to move me.”

Since handing in her trainer’s licence five years ago Hutchinson has been busy as a lifecoach and includes several high-profile sports people among her clients. “It has been going very well but I missed being around horses and had just started back riding out when the accident happened. I have been really touched by the amount of racing people who have got in touch and sent messages to me.

“I thought I had been forgotten by the racing world but it’s a great community at times like this.”