By Horse Journals Media

A Manitoba woman has not regained consciousness and remains in serious condition after a fall from a horse on Sunday, June 17, 2018.

Rebecca Fentum-Jones, 22, was trail riding at a horse-rescue ranch near St. Malo, 80 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, where she volunteers. She and the ranch owner were returning to the ranch, coming out of a ditch to cross a hardtop road when her horse stumbled, throwing Fentum-Jones to the pavement where she landed on her head. Although she usually wears a helmet, she was not wearing one on this ride.

She was transported by STARS air ambulance to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, where she has not regained consciousness and is on a respirator. She is deeply sedated and was placed in an induced coma due to swelling of her brain.

On Monday, June 18, Fentum-Jones had surgery to ease pressure on her brain by removing part of her skull on both sides of her head.

The following day she was given an MRI to help determine whether her injuries were survivable. Her mother, Alison Fentum, who worked at racetracks as an exercise rider for 20 years, told the Winnipeg Free Press, “They said they didn’t see anything that qualified as non-survivable,” and that her daughter is young and fit and doctors want to treat her injuries aggressively and give her every opportunity to recover.

For the past three years Fentum-Jones, an experienced rider, has worked at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, K-5 Stables in Rosser, and Misty River Ranch near Île-des-Chênes. 

In an interview, her boyfriend Richie Rodgers told CTVNews, “She usually wears a helmet. Where the damage was, a helmet would have made a difference.” He added, “All they’ve been able to say is that her brain is severely injured and beyond that they can’t really assess how bad it is until she wakes up. It sounds like the horse just stumbled and somehow she ended up face down.”

Photo: GoFundMepage

Fentum-Jones’ mother, her father Todd, and Richie are at her bedside around the clock. At this time her prognosis remains unclear and the lasting impact she may have is unknown. 

A GoFundMe fundraising page has been set up to help provide the financial support Fentum-Jones will need to recover mentally and physically from this devastating tragedy. The fundraising page asks all the horsemen and women around the country and the world to help support this young lady during this terrible time.

- With files from CTVNews.ca, Winnipeg Free Press

GoFundMe - https://www.gofundme.com/rebecca-fentum-jones

Main photo: GoFundMepage

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