A teenager who nearly died when she was thrown from a horse, got back into the saddle yesterday to raise money for the people who saved her life.

Jordan Sinclair, 19, from Hinckley, suffered 12 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a punctured lung, and a punctured windpipe, when she fell from her horse in March this year.

Medics from the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance flew to the scene near Coventry and administered emergency treatment which saved her life.

Yesterday, for the first time since the fall, she competed in a showjumping event, at her club's annual riding show which raised cash for the air ambulance.

"If it wasn't for them, I would not be here – simple as that," Jordan said. "I feel now like I owe it to them to do as much as I can to give something back."

The accident happened when Jordan climbed on to a friend's horse, in a car park next to fields in Bulkington, near Coventry.

The horse bolted, while Jordan gripped the saddle and attempted to gain control.

She said: "It all happened so fast. A plane went overhead so I waited a minute before getting on Cyril, in case he spooked.

"Either he was still spooked, or he heard something else, because he took off when I got on.

"He bolted and I didn't have my feet in the stirrups or my hands on the reins – I had no way to control him.

"I remember being thrown to the ground and thinking that I was going to be in a lot of pain – that was my final thought."

Jordan was put in an induced coma while paramedics inserted drains into her lungs, in a bid to release pressure and help her breathe.

She was taken to University Hospital Coventry where doctors discovered she had also broken her collar bone and damaged her sciatic nerve.

After 10 days on a life support machine, and a further four days in intensive care, doctors brought Jordan out of her coma.

Mum Mel, 39, who has two other children, Jack, one, and Georgia, seven, said: "It was the most agonising wait of my life. Seeing her lying there and knowing we just had to wait was absolutely horrendous.

"When I look at her now, and see all the things she is doing – and see her back on her horse – it hardly seems like the same person. The air ambulance saved her life and we are so grateful."

Jordan was forced to drop out of school and defer a place to study veterinary studies at Glasgow University, which she was due to start this month.

She plans to return to John Cleveland College in Hinckley in February to pick up where she left off, and hopes to go to university next year.

Meanwhile, the teenager plans to keep riding, and is currently volunteering regularly at the Hinckley branch of the Air Ambulance charity shop.

She is due to have surgery on the nerves in her knee later in the year, but otherwise has made a full recovery.

"It hasn't put me off riding one bit," she said. "But it has made me want to do more for the air ambulance. I know how important the work they do is, and I will never forget."

To donate to the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance, visit:

www.dlraa.co.uk.