AN EQUESTRIAN fanatic has spoken of her determination to compete at the Paralympics after twice battling back from having her skull crushed by horses.

Claire Hope, of Hambleton, near Thirsk, said she hopes to challenge in a dressage competition at the event in 2020, despite having suffered horrific injuries in the incidents.

Mrs Hope, who runs a horse box hire firm, said she was told by surgeons at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, that her face resembled a bomb blast victim’s after her gelding Archie bucked, catching her with a hoof in December 2009.

She suffered a brain haemorrhage, had multiple facial fractures and what remained of her right eye removed.

After spending weeks recovering in hospital, and years learning to ride with one eye, Mrs Hope was again kicked in the head while feeding her horses, Ollie and Costa, in May last year.

Mrs Hope said: “I couldn't believe it when I was kicked for a second time, my skull had only just really repaired itself from the first accident.

“I think that if I’d had 100 per cent vision, I might have seen what was happening quickly enough to get out of the way, but it happened before I even realised it.”

She again suffered facial fractures and an arm so severely fractured that ten months on, doctors have been unable to find a way for it to heal naturally.

She said: “To be kicked in the head by a horse once is incredibly unlucky, but twice is unbelievable.

“I’ve lost my eye and had to adjust to a whole new way of life, learning to do the most mundane tasks with limited vision.

“It’s really hard to deal with becoming monocular later in life, as I have had to re-educate my brain.”

She said the incidents had increased her determination to pursue her dream to compete in and promote para sports and encourage others to give riding a try.

Mrs Hope said: “Dressage is difficult as when on the left rein I have no vision of the markers or boards, sometimes I can’t physically turn my head far enough around on my shoulders to see markers which ultimately affects my accuracy.

“I don’t know where I get my motivation and drive, but simply can’t imagine life without a horse and am not prepared to settle for this option.”