Charity fundraiser from woman left paralysed in riding accident

Tara Stewart, then a top advertising executive, was thrown from her horse while riding near her family home in Stearsby in 2014, instantly breaking her neck. She has praised the emergency teams who came to her rescue, and now she wants to give something back.

With her internationally-renowed artist father, David Howell, a past President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, she has helped to create a one-off, original racehorse oil called ‘A Dirty Day at Duncombe Park’ with limited edition signed prints. The hope is to raise £100,000 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance and for Spinal Research.

“Stranded as I was in the middle of nowhere, it was impossible to get an ambulance to me and I knew, from the moment I hit the ground, that the only way to get me out would be by helicopter,” said Ms Stewart, who endured a five-hour wait on the ground before a passing horse rider spotted her riderless mount and called the emergency services. “My entire focus is on raising money. Obviously, I am passionate about supporting the amazing work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance. I also believe very passionately in the work of Spinal Research to fund a cure into spinal cord injury. I have a first-hand understanding of the absolute devastation to a life an injury like this can cause.”