Episode 2 Countryside 999

From the Highlands of Scotland, to the coast of Cornwall,

the great British countryside is spectacular.

But we work and play in it at our peril.

And when things go wrong,

the emergency services race to the rescue.

This chap is having a heart attack and we need to get him in quickly.

There's no police courses for this.

Going hundreds of miles against the clock,

battling the elements and braving the weather.

From fields and forests,

to cliffs and country roads,

we'll be right at the heart of the action.

With police fighting crime...

Could seize your dogs, I could seize your van,

but I'm going to summons you all to court.

..paramedics saving lives...

BABY CRIES

..and wardens safeguarding our lakes.

Come out of the way!

We're there as the emergency services pull together to pick up,

patch up, and protect the public.

This is Countryside 999.

Coming up...

medics treat an injured rider at horse trials in Herefordshire.

Can you tell me where you are?

What happened?

In Cornwall, Air Ambulance race to a young farmer suffering

an extreme allergic reaction.

And County Durham cops call time on some unhappy campers.

Someone packing up the tents, then?

Come on, then, chop chop.

The great outdoors.

There's nothing we Brits like more than getting out and about in it.

Whether on two wheels, two legs or four.

Horse riding is a big part of country life,

with 3.5 million of us taking to the saddle every year.

But not everyone's after a gentle canter in the country.

Each year, across the UK, thousands of riders take part

in an adrenaline-fuelled equestrian sport -

horse trials.

With dressage, show-jumping

and cross-country, it's the ultimate horse triathlon,

so riding hats and body protectors are a must,

as experienced eventer Alice knows all too well.

It can be quite dangerous.

Obviously, he's about a 600kg horse, and we're going about 25-30 mph,

and we're jumping solid obstacles,

so when it goes wrong, it can go drastically wrong.

Half a tonne of horse, 25mph - it's basically like a car crash.

A car crash without seat belts,

which can be a big challenge for our rural emergency services.

Helping to take the strain are a team of special event medics

brought in to provide emergency care for fallen riders.

Paramedics like Cameron McVittie.

Today we are at the British Eventing horse trials.

Obviously, horse sports are quite a high risk.

There's potential for some nasty injuries.

They might suffer from a head injury, potential spinal injuries,

so we are looking for a lot of musculoskeletal injuries today.

Today, the team are at the Sapey Horse Trials.

A two-day event held in rural Herefordshire.

The nearest A&E is in Worcester, 18 miles away.

Working with Cameron are husband-and-wife team,

Doctors Laura and David Davies.

Lovely. OK, brilliant.

Well, from a neurosurgical point of view,

we see more injuries due to equestrian sports

than almost any other.

The nastiest fall that we will have here

is what's called a rotational fall,

where the horse and rider come over a fence

and the horse and rider, as a complex,

rotate and the horse falls on the rider.

When they happen, rotational falls are the most likely

to cause serious injury.

The show's riskiest event, cross-country, is in full swing.

A slight miscalculation could cost the rider more than just seconds.

Over the top of the hill towards the trough at ten.

It's not long before paramedics Cameron and Mark are called

to their first incident.

Someone's fallen from a horse, we believe.

We're just going to follow the doctor and see what's going on.

All we've got so far is it's at fence 11.

A rider's on the ground.

Both doctors, David and Laura, are at the scene.

She's hurt herself.

-Are you OK, my love?

-Who are you?

Don't... Just rest down. Rest down, now.

Rest yourself down. I'm going to take your hat off now.

I need you to just lie like this, OK?

I'm going to put my hands over your face, OK?

Let's just take your hat off.

Just relax. You rest. We don't need you to do anything, my love.

Can you tell me where you are?

Can you tell me where you are?

OK. Have you got some rubber gloves?

Which horse trials?

25-year-old professional eventer Lissa

fell after trying to clear fence 11.

The horse fell on top of her.

You fell off your horse.

11.

The dog kennel.

She's conscious and worried about her horse.

-Is he all right?

-He's good, yes. I watched him walk away.

I'm going to go and find him in a minute when you've gone.

Laura and David work quickly to assess her injuries.

We need to check you're safe.

No, I don't think you should be getting back on, love.

Will you let us put this mask on?

Can you tell me your name?

I know, you've hurt your face. You've hurt yourself.

We started to just expose the area, removing her protective clothing

and we could see that she had a deformity on her chest

and to her collarbone and that there had clearly been an injury there.

We were then given a report that the saddle had actually been bent

at the back, which meant that the full weight of the horse

had probably been transferred on to her chest.

It's a rotational fall,

which means Lissa could have serious internal injuries.

Keeping her still, or immobilising her,

is now vital to prevent further damage.

But Lissa is confused.

Just try and relax your arm for a second.

Whereabouts is it sore?

-Stop saying sorry.

-Don't you worry. Don't you worry.

Let's get a collar.

If you ride enough horses,

sooner or later you're going to fall off the odd one. OK?

She's got blood around her mouth and a very bruised chin.

Just relax for us. We'll give you something for the pain in a minute.

Just something gentle for the pain.

-No, you need to just stay down on the floor, my love.

-Stay down.

We really need you to stay down.

It's all right, sweetheart. Just lie still.

No, you don't. You need to lie still.

You really need to lie still now.

One of the most difficult things to do in these cases,

where somebody is in that state of agitated difficulty,

is to actually keep them in a safe position.

They are in danger of making the situation worse by getting up

and trying to mobilise.

I'm just going to put this leg down, my love.

Let's just roll her over gently.

Just going to roll you slightly in that direction.

We're just putting you on to a little stretcher, my love.

Just so we can get you off the grass.

That's all right. You're doing really well.

There we are. Off you go. Right.

So we get a set of blocks, we get a board in, we get a line

and get some analgesia...

Cameron calls 999 for an ambulance.

I'm at the British Eventing horse trials.

Can I give you a coordinate?

Concerned for Lissa's anxiety and pain,

David opts for intravenous morphine.

Sorry about this, my love, it might be a bit sharp, all right?

OK. Fair enough.

I think you've broken your collarbone, my love.

You might well have done, yeah.

Just strap those blocks on so we can get her in the ambulance.

I know, I know. I'm giving you some pain relief.

There's growing concern for Lissa's injuries.

Laura checks her breathing.

Lissa.

I want you to take a nice deep breath in and out for me.

She's got at least two fractured ribs.

Yeah, lovely.

Pain relief again.

The team upgrade the call and request the Air Ambulance.

They now need to get her into a more controlled environment

until the helicopter arrives.

North Cornwall.

Its rugged coastline shaped and sculpted by pounding surf

and Atlantic winds.

A perfect playground for the adventurous.

And home to one very busy rural emergency service.

Cornwall's Air Ambulance flies around 800 missions a year,

on call every day...

..buying time for the ill and injured from Land's End to Liskeard.

On shift today are paramedics Mick McLachlan and Paul Symonds.

We're just getting the aircraft out of the hangar.

The weather's bad today.

We've got a windy day today.

For the safety of the aircraft,

we've kept it indoors until we get a call.

And an emergency call has just come in.

Hello, caller. Mick speaking.

A man has been pulled from the sea

just minutes from the helicopter base.

We're located just on the edge of Watergate Bay here.

It's quite a well-known surfing spot.

We get a lot of big surf around here. And beautiful.

But, potentially, there are some serious incidents out there.

OK, somebody's been pulled from the water.

Not sure how long they've been in the water.

Initially unconscious. Now they're conscious and alert

and we've been called down to the beach.

From the base in Newquay, Watergate Bay is just four miles away.

There's lots of kite surfers. Going to be a bit of a problem.

Yeah, lots of kite surfers.

Nice, big beach, but lots of kite surfers around the water line.

But, obviously, their kites extend over a fair distance.

Kite-surf lines can stretch up to 40 metres in the air -

a big hazard for the helicopter.

There's three or four kites loose on the ground.

Getting tangled in the disc is a big worry.

We're not entirely sure where the incident is on the beach.

700 receiving.

Yeah, hello, there. We're overhead orbiting.

Can't see obviously where the patient is on the beach.

We're slightly struggling with the wind surfers.

There's a lot of kites down near the water line.

So, at the moment, the main beach

isn't a particularly safe place for us to land.

If we have a still, we'll stand down. Over.

Yeah, the crew have got to the chap.

They've found him. He's conscious and orientated.

He has ingested a little bit of water,

so he will need to go to hospital.

But they're quite happy to go by road.

So, yeah, they've stood us down,

so we're clear to go back and be available for further jobs.

But it's never long between call-outs.

News comes through on the radio of another emergency.

Someone having an allergic reaction.

Anaphylactic reaction it's given as.

She thinks it's as a result of an insect bite.

Unfortunately, we've got to get some fuel before we can go.

So, we'll just do a little refuel and then head off.

The team refuel in just three minutes and they're off.

And not a moment too soon.

There's an update on the casualty.

Anaphylaxis is really deemed as a severe allergic reaction,

a life-threatening allergic reaction.

In this situation, we're talking about airways swelling,

we're talking about the tongue swelling,

we're talking about the chest becoming tight

and then actually unable to breathe.

Those are all symptoms that are, potentially, life-threatening.

The helicopter is now heading 20 miles east to an isolated farm

near the village of Fowey.

There's a car on the way. It's over 25 minutes away.

It's quite a remote part of the county where the patient is.

So, we should be overhead in about three-and-a-half minutes.

-At the top here, the farm is marked.

-There you go. That's where it is.

Extreme allergic reactions can be controlled by an EpiPen

that injects adrenaline into the body.

This should reduce swelling and help with breathing.

But, in this case, the EpiPen hasn't worked.

Hello, Fiona. I'm Mick.

19-year-old farmer Fiona was bitten by an insect

while out on her tractor.

Shortly after, her arm and tongue began to swell up.

And I gather this has been happening several times lately.

And is it sort of freshly diagnosed?

Is it a newly-diagnosed thing all this or has it been a long-term...?

She had her first reaction three years ago...

Right.

..to kiwi fruit.

I'm just going to have a listen to your chest

and I'll take your blood pressure.

Did you feel wheezy or tight-chested at all

or just your tongue was so big and...?

She was out working in the field on the tractor

and just came in saying, "It's happening again."

After she'd used the first EpiPen, I called 999

and, thankfully, the paramedics are on their way.

We're half an hour from the nearest town.

Even with a blue light,

they're going to struggle to get here within 20 minutes.

So, the air ambulance is an absolute godsend.

Thankfully, the second shot of adrenaline is kicking in,

preventing Fiona's body from going into full anaphylactic shock.

How does Fiona appear to you now?

-An awful lot better!

-A lot better?

Good. Good.

Fiona's breathing has improved.

But Mick's still keen to get her to hospital.

Right, we'll do a bit of monitoring in the aircraft on the way.

I'll take your blood pressure and heart rate.

If I could pop an ECG on you, just to have a look at the heart rate.

We needed to get the patient checked over.

She required two doses of adrenaline to address the symptoms,

which is quite a hefty dose of adrenaline.

It's quite a potent drug.

But, also, on this occasion,

it wasn't clear what's caused the allergic reaction,

so that needed a bit of further investigation.

Just come round the far side there, Fiona.

They're taking her to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

It's only going to be a fairly short ride in.

It's a lot quicker this way than by road.

Right, that sits down on your right side of your tummy.

And that down on the left side as well, all right?

-What we'll do, we'll sit you up again in two seconds, all right?

-OK.

You just look out the window, OK?

Update your Facebook profile picture or something like that.

-Do you want a hand there at all?

-No, I'm fine. There we go.

Awesome. OK.

With the swelling going down, Fiona is finding it much easier to speak.

Since her first serious allergic reaction

to kiwi fruit three years ago,

Fiona regularly has extreme reactions

to an increasing range of triggers.

Until two weeks ago, she's managed to control them with an EpiPen.

With four reactions in ten days,

it's a worrying development for a young farmer

living and working in a remote location.

Finding the cause of Fiona's seemingly random,

but very severe reactions,

is now down to the specialists.

OK.

-All right?

-Yeah.

-You OK there?

Awesome.

HELICOPTER ALTIMETER: 100 feet.

A smooth and speedy transfer

has helped take the sting out of a scary experience for Fiona.

I think it is quite terrifying, these allergic reactions.

Your tongue starts swelling up, your airways constrict,

you become wheezy, you're fighting for breath.

It's a terrifying thing, yeah.

180 miles north of Truro,

there's another medical emergency in need of air ambulance support.

At the horse trials in Herefordshire,

the cross-country event has been suspended

while the medical team treat fallen rider Lissa.

Lovely. Onto the trolley. And down.

Beautiful, beautiful.

They're concerned she may have serious injuries

and have called for a helimed.

Essentially, the horse has fallen onto her chest.

She sustained quite significant chest injuries.

She's broken at least a couple of ribs, her right collarbone.

In these situations, you never know when the chest could deteriorate.

So, it's very important that we move as quickly as possible

and get her to a major trauma centre as soon as we can.

How's your pain, my love?

LISSA GROANS

Support her shoulder.

As the Midlands Air Ambulance arrives,

David speaks to Lissa's concerned mum on the phone.

She's holding her own. She's alert.

She's having a joke with us. She's got some oxygen on her.

She's broken her collarbone.

And also probably a couple of ribs.

Although, that's speculative at the moment.

But she's perfectly stable.

Just as a precaution, we've got the air ambulance in.

Just because of our remote location.

Don't you worry, my love.

We're probably completely overcooking it,

but we've only got your best interests at heart.

Lissa's good friend Frankie is on hand for support,

in her mum's absence.

I'm just going to put you on loudspeaker.

We want this tightened a little bit.

OK, speak to your mummy.

I know! I'm so sorry...

I don't know. I don't remember.

Events such as this...

When the young girl spoke to her mother on the phone,

the mother's first instinct was to laugh.

I hear that she was quite an experienced rider herself.

It's very interesting to see people's reactions.

Thank you very much. Cheers.

It's job done for the medics.

But Lissa's journey is far from over.

She's desperate to get back in the saddle.

But, until she's examined at the hospital,

she won't know the extent of her injuries.

For kids, the countryside is a place of escape and adventure.

When summer holidays descend...

..getting away from the grown-ups can be fun for some...

..but a headache for others.

It's thoughtless. Absolutely mindless.

I think they probably just picked up a recycling box

and just started the fire in the box.

Bringing our rural bobbies some tricky policing challenges.

In County Durham, on the edge of the northern Pennines,

is the small town of Consett.

It's the local patch

of neighbourhood beat officer PC Kevin Hall.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

An ex-engineer, who gave it all up to be a cop.

I was looking for something with a bit more excitement,

a bit more challenging.

Being able to get out and about, meet different people

and help people out, really.

After a stint in the Metropolitan Police,

Kevin swapped the city streets for a rural beat in Consett.

If you took a day of policing in London

to a day of policing in Consett,

I think anyone would see that there's major differences here.

To me, they're both as challenging.

The challenges for the rural side come about

just because of the distance that you have to travel.

So, you've got to be that little bit switched on, thinking ahead,

so you can get the best out of the situation.

And if you are by yourself,

you've got to be that little bit switched on more so.

Today, Kevin is on his own.

Can you just put me in India 0-3 Victor, please?

And responding to a call of some youths messing about on common land

on the edge of town.

A female's witnessed some youths putting up a tent in a field

and chasing the cattle around

and shouting and swearing at passers-by in the street.

It's more than likely that they shouldn't be in the field

and they haven't got permission to be there

and to be setting up the tent.

So, I'll probably end up telling them to move on

and dismantle the tent

and spoil their fun for the night, unfortunately.

It might be common land,

but the kids still need council permission to camp.

They may be just looking for something to do

in their school holidays.

But fun for some can be a real nuisance for others.

Sometimes, we get the younger youths chasing round horses in the fields

for a bit of sport.

And chasing cattle, which can be very serious.

We do sometimes get the hay bales and the straw bales

being set on fire, as well.

Especially the round ones, where the kids find it highly enjoyable

to set fire to them and roll them down a hill.

On the way, Kevin speaks to the woman who spotted the youths.

I stopped the car, coming through the trading estate,

walked through close enough so I could see.

-But they couldn't see me.

-Right. Yeah.

-And I don't know how many's there.

-Right.

I could see four. But I think there's more.

He calls in a Police Community Support Officer for backup.

Until he arrives, Kevin's on his own.

If they start running, depending on who they are,

if I can recognise any of them,

then I'm not so concerned, because I can go back at a later date

and just knock on their home addresses.

I'm not anticipating running after them

because, sometimes, that just adds fuel to the fire

and they'll just play cat and mouse all day long

for what we're looking at.

So...

I don't know if you can just see through the woods there.

I can see one tent

and I've just seen a lad

in a black and white and blue stripy top.

And I think they've spotted us, so I'm just going to head up.

What yous doing here?

Camping out? So, who's done all the damage to the trees?

Whose land is this?

What?

Whose land is this?

Have yous got permission to be here?

It's public.

It's public land.

-When we came here, the tree was down.

-Right.

Okey-doke. So...

You haven't got permission to be here and camp out here.

-Oh, so, I have to move?

-Yep.

But, first, I want all your details.

PCSO Mark arrives to lend a hand.

I'm going to guess, unless something is seriously wrong,

this isn't your handbag.

It is!

No. That's not ours.

So, whose is it?

Your sister's?

Right...

With some of the kids having disappeared into the nearby woods,

Mark and Kevin do a quick search.

And stumble across a totally unexpected find.

Mark's just, obviously, found,

well, quite a healthy-looking cannabis plant

that's been planted in the soil down here.

I'm surprised it's grown.

But it's definitely a cannabis plant, which is quite unusual.

I've never seen anybody plant one out in the open before.

I can just tell by the style of the leaves

and just the plant itself.

Yeah, it absolutely stinks.

I've never seen that in my 15-year career.

It's a bit of a bizarre turn of events

which was, normally, a run-of-the-mill incident.

Good find.

I thought it was going to be something horrendous.

"I've found a body!"

I came round the corner and it was there, in the ground.

I recognised it straight away.

It's not the kind of thing that you see out here in the wilds.

So, it's definitely been put there intentionally.

Kevin is now concerned for the kids.

What is this?

I know you know who...what it is.

No, we actually don't know who that is!

-So, what do you think it is?

-Cannabis plant.

So, even worse,

the fact that somebody's planting cannabis plants here,

so they're coming backwards and forwards, probably on a daily basis,

to check on it...

Convinced the plant isn't connected to the kids,

he's worried for their safety.

You lot are camping out...

What are they going to think if it's missing, dead or gone?

And what are they going to do to you?

They'll probably give you a good hiding.

And who's going to see them?

I know you probably think you're hard enough and can handle yourselves,

but, you know,

if an adult comes along and finds that it's missing or damaged

and you're sleeping in your tents...

After decamping into the woods earlier,

the other kids have come back.

What you doing in here, then?

Like, we were going to camp out.

Right. And where have you just come from?

Just up there.

Kevin's now keen to get everyone out of the woods for their own welfare.

-Someone packing up the tents then?

-We haven't packed nowt.

Come on, then, chop-chop!

Sometimes, it can be difficult dealing with the youths.

But you've go to sort of take them for what they are.

You know, the hormonal youth of that age,

some of them will play up to you,

some are a bit more shy and reserved when the police are around.

I'm not very happy that we're getting blamed

for this destruction of the woods.

It's public land.

So, it's public land.

But, fair enough, that we get blamed for it, but we didn't do it.

We got our GCSE results as well and...

..we were just having fun camping.

By the time we're here and settled down, everyone will be in bed

and we're not going to be making no distractions

and we'll not be in no houses. That's why we come to this place.

Right. Are you about ready?

Come on, then...

With their exam result party plan scuppered, the youngsters head home.

Yeah, you can see it from their point of view.

They just want to spend a night out camping with their friends.

But they've got to be responsible when they do that and ask permission.

A party isn't the only thing going up in smoke tonight.

The cannabis plant will be taken to the station

and incinerated.

I've never came across a cannabis plant

grown or been planted in the wild like that.

I don't think it was the kids. They were quite shocked by it.

Some of them didn't even know what it was.

Yeah, very unusual, hidden around the back of some trees.

Yeah. Bit of a mystery, really.

From country cops to country copters.

On a previous shift,

Cornwall Air paramedics Paul Symonds and Mick McLachlan

came to the rescue of allergy-sufferer Fiona.

They're back on standby,

but the crew of one of Britain's busiest air ambulances

can't put their feet up.

They need to be ready to scramble at a minute's notice...

..and be in the air in under three.

And a call's just come in.

It's a crew request down to a gentleman

who's got an internal defib that keeps firing off.

An internal defib is a heart device implanted inside the body.

It delivers an electric shock

whenever it thinks the heart isn't beating properly.

The patient at this time

had reported his defib firing four or five times

while he'd been sat down at home.

That could be concerning for anybody.

With the risk of cardiac arrest, it's a time-critical emergency.

It's, obviously, this morning, he's detected some abnormal rhythm

and it's started firing off.

So, it's delivered a few shocks.

So, there's obviously an unstable cardiac rhythm going on there.

The helimed is heading 25 miles south-west

to Mullion on the Lizard peninsula,

where a land ambulance crew are waiting with the patient.

Mullion to Treliske...

I imagine you're looking in the region of about an hour or so,

because it's down on the Lizard, so it's the most southerly point.

By air, I imagine we'll be about ten minutes.

Peter, I'm Paul, obviously, one of the colleagues here.

How are you feeling at the mo?

Not bad.

77-year-old Peter was at home resting

when his internal defib suddenly went off.

Take me back through the last couple of weeks' events.

I understand this isn't the first time.

About three weeks ago, I was just relaxing in a chair and it went...

OK. All right.

..five times.

In this situation, with an internal defibrillator actually firing,

it's a really pretty good indication that one of two things has happened.

The heart's not beating as it should do

and it's not going to be effective in what it wants to do.

The flip side is there could be a malfunction in the defibrillator.

Paul checks the ambulance ECG that's recorded Peter's heart rhythms.

So, Peter, you've had no pain with any of this at all, my friend?

No. I got up to go to the toilet and it just went bang.

The defib is supposed to trigger

when Peter is in danger of a heart attack,

shocking the heart back into a stable rhythm.

The electric shock only lasts a second or so,

but can be painful.

How strange, eh? How bizarre.

I felt just a bit weak-legged, but...

OK. Well, I'm going to ask the silliest question of all.

The original reason you had the defib fitted,

was that because you actually had a cardiac arrest?

I had a heart attack in 1998.

-OK.

-Watching Queens Park Rangers...

PAUL CHUCKLES

I was going to say, that would do it, eh?

When we arrived with the patient,

the patient was actually, generally quite stable.

Whether his defibrillator had worked appropriately,

whether things had actually settled down...

He was very comfortable. He was very chilled out. He was chatty.

But things can change.

Just as rapidly as they had changed to make him stable,

they can change to make him unstable as well.

And that's a concern for us.

Peter, I think we'll just take you over to the aircraft, OK?

-We'll get you sorted.

-Right. OK.

OK? If there's anything we can do to make you more comfortable,

don't hesitate, give us a shout.

I'll have a quick word with Truro, let them know we're on our way in.

And we'll be there in about ten minutes or so, all right? Right.

Peter's lack of pain today adds to the mystery of his triggering defib.

He felt chest pains central.

This was two weeks ago, was it?

When we went to him first time.

Yeah. Three weeks ago. OK, yeah.

And the last 24 hours or so, you've been feeling yourself?

Not unwell?

I got very tired yesterday.

OK.

-But no chest pain or anything like that?

-No.

Nothing you'd associate with it? OK. Excellent.

Bear with me two secs, then.

-I gather you had a helicopter ride two weeks ago?

-Yeah.

-A Sea Queen.

-Yeah, this one's a bit smooth.

-Yes, so they tell me.

-Yeah.

That's more of a Transit van. This is more of a Ferrari.

Paul rings ahead to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

Eight o'clock this morning, his internal defib fired.

It's fired numerous times this morning, bless him.

Now, three weeks ago,

he was admitted to you guys for exactly the same episode.

That was following chest pain.

This morning's episode hasn't had any chest pain involved at all.

And he has got an abnormal ECG.

ETA to you is going to be 09.50.

Can you hear me OK there, Peter? Are you still comfortable?

-Yeah. Thank you.

-Good, good.

The team keep a close eye on Peter throughout the short flight.

Within nine minutes, they arrive at the hospital.

So, when we arrived, they were fantastic.

They had all the ED ready for us, the emergency department ready,

and specific doctors there, ready to read the defibrillator and the ECG

and decide what they were going to do with the patient.

It was the helimeds' job to get Peter here quickly and safely.

It's now down to the doctors

to solve the riddle of his firing defib.

Ready, set, down.

There we go.

Back in Herefordshire, the horse trials have restarted

after injured rider Lissa was air lifted

to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

That's actually quite sore now.

-Collar on.

-Whereabouts is it sore?

Let's put the collar on.

It may have seemed to some people

that it was a little bit overkill for what we did.

But, again, we haven't got X-ray eyes.

We haven't got X-ray scanners

or CT scanners or anything like that.

So, we have to make sure that we take every precaution necessary

to make sure that she gets that high level of care,

just in case she does have that underlying injury.

It hurts...

It was lucky for Lissa the team did adopt the cautious approach.

She spent six days in hospital.

Two months later, Lissa's still recovering at home.

So, I broke my lower jaw on the right at the front by the chin.

And that was split into two.

And then I had lots of little fractures on my upper jaw,

right at the back on the left.

And that's been fixed with a plate.

And then I broke my clavicle, too,

which has been manipulated back together.

And then, I also did four ribs

which, actually, healed fast and quickest, luckily,

so I could sort of laugh and talk to everyone.

On the day of the accident,

everything had been going smoothly for professional eventer Lissa,

trying out her new horse.

He's called Malin Head Clover to compete under,

but we call him Ali G.

It was my first competition on the horse.

He was giving me a really nice ride.

A long time since I've ridden a horse so forward and eager

and really, really wanting to do his job.

I mean, it was just meant to be another normal competition,

another weekend at another show,

galloping around a field, like we do.

And it was the last thing I expected, for it all to go wrong.

We came up to fence 11 which is, ironically,

the smallest fence on the course.

And the sun was gleaming off the white bones

on the front of the kennel.

And there was absolutely no question in my mind that anything was wrong.

I remember hearing the sound of him hitting the fence

and I remember kind of looking down and going,

"Oh, God, we're falling. Are we going to make it?

"No, we're not. Oh, this is so embarrassing." And then, black.

Can you tell me where you are?

Can you tell me where you are?

Which horse trials?

And I remember coming round and seeing everyone there

and I wasn't quite sure where I was.

And then I remember thinking,

I've go to get back on my horse, I've got to ride again.

-No, no, stay on the floor.

-No, please, stay down.

We need you to stay down.

And as the pain filters in, your brain starts thinking...

"Oh, God, well, maybe they have got a point.

"Maybe I should be lying here for a reason."

I could not breathe.

And all at the top of my ribs and kind of below my neck

just felt really compressed.

And I think that's what made them call the air ambulance in the end,

because I was really struggling.

Lissa's received hundreds of well wishes from the eventing community.

They know only too well the risks involved in their sport.

It's not about IF you fall off, it's WHEN you next fall off.

It's always going to happen. You know it's going to happen.

And especially in our sport, we do have a high fatality list.

And so it makes you really, really grateful and...

Yeah, I am very, very lucky. My injury is actually quite superficial,

in the long scheme of things.

Once they've all healed correctly,

then I should be absolutely fine to crack on.

And Lissa's already back in the saddle

and back with Ali G.

I can't imagine doing anything else.

For me, it's instinctive to want to get straight back in the saddle

and continue what I was doing.

It's like breathing for everyone else.

It's what I do. It's what I love.

It's been all go for the emergency services in Britain's rural areas.

Young farmer Fiona has had more allergic reactions

since being airlifted to hospital.

Doctors think it could be spontaneous anaphylactic shocks.

And it turns out Peter's defib was not misfiring

but, instead, saved his life.

He was transferred from Truro to hospital in Bristol,

where he underwent heart surgery and kidney dialysis.

He was very ill but, thankfully, he's now on the mend.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.