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WA jockey Natasha Faithfull is making a positive recovery in a Perth hospital from injuries sustained in an horrific accident while exercising a horse at Albany last weekend.
The 25-year-old jockey was riding a horse on a sand pathway at Middleton Beach on Saturday morning for local trainer Steve Wolfe when it took fright and fell down an embankment.
The horse rolled over the top of Faithfull and then trampled her as it tried to regain its footing.After emergency treatment at Albany Hospital Faithfull was flown to Royal Perth Hospital in a critical condition with multiple fractures, collapsed lungs and a lacerated liver.
By Monday she was out of danger and was able to post a message on social media updating her condition.“I’m slowly recovering in Royal Perth Hospital after my accident,” she posted to Facebook.
“I ended up with both my lungs collapsed, a few broken ribs each side, three fractured vertebrae in my lower back, a broken collarbone and shoulder and a small tear in my liver.“I’m on lots of good painkillers and I’m slowly on the mend, and already looking forward to getting back to the horses.
“I’ll be in hospital for at least a few more days while my lungs are healing.”Faithfull has been riding for more than a decade after being taught by her mother when she was 13.
She served her apprentice to Wolfe in Albany and has ridden more than 260 winners including 30 metropolitan wins in Perth.