A woman whose face was ripped from her skull after she was thrown from her horse is back in the saddle following a miraculous reconstruction.

Susi Sadler's face was a bloody mess after her horse bolted and threw her head first into a wooden post.

Experts told her she had suffered a "de-gloving" injury - when part of her face literally came away from her skull bone - but one year later she bears no scars resembling the devastation save for some nerve damage.

Susi had to have an eye-watering 30 stitches on her face and another 60 in her mouth. Now Susi is bravely preparing to take on her first major riding test.

The aptly-named Miss Sadler, 28, has been riding horses since she was a year-old and had represented Britain in the under-21s category before the accident.

She said: “I was riding the horse I was training when something spooked him. He bolted and threw me and I hit a wooden fence post, with my face taking the impact."