The dramatic opening episode of the new series of Yorkshire Air 999 will feature the story of 19-year-old Maddie Schaible from Northallerton, whose typical morning at the stables turned into a medical emergency after a horse-riding accident left her with a serious open ankle fracture.
Maddie, who has been riding since the age of two and now works at her local stables, had already ridden two horses before taking Rebel, a young horse, out for exercise.
When Rebel suddenly reared, Maddie was thrown to the ground and suffered a severe fracture, with bone protruding through the skin of her ankle.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s Topcliffe-based Critical Care Team, Paramedics Sam and Danny, were scrambled to the scene and arrived within minutes by helicopter. They joined land ambulance crews already providing pain relief before administering stronger interventions.
Maddie was given ketamine to manage the extreme pain, before the team delicately realigned her fractured bones and secured her leg in a vacuum splint.
She was flown to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, where she underwent emergency surgery.
Maddie is now recovering with a surgical frame supporting her leg and says she is determined to return to horse riding.
“When it happened, I was just in shock. I remember looking at my leg thinking, ‘oh god, this doesn’t look right.’ Recovery has been tough, but once I could manage the pain and start getting outside again, I felt so much better.
“I’m so grateful to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance team for the care they gave me that day, and I’m determined to get back in the saddle as soon as possible.”
The episode also features the rescue of a farmer trapped beneath a vintage tractor in the Yorkshire Dales, a motorcyclist with broken ribs and a punctured lung, and a two-year-old child with breathing difficulties.
Yorkshire Air 999 returns to TV screens on Friday, October 3, at 9pm on the Really channel and Discovery+.
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