The farmer's daughter from Escrick had been floored by a headache one Sunday afternoon, suffering a bleed on her brain which was as large as an orange.

Just over a year on, and she is about to embark on the 'greatest test of horsemanship on Earth' as she prepares for a race across the wilderness of South America.

And while it's taken 'a thousand moments' to get to this point, she says, she feels it's the right thing to do as she strives to conquer that sense of fragile mortality.

Shirley Haywood, from Escrick, is on her way to Patagonia to compete in the Gaucho Derby after suffering a brain haemorrhage just over a year ago. Image: Gary Longbottom

"A part of me is proving to myself that I can do it," she says of her plans. "A part of me doesn’t want to die of a brain haemorrhage just waiting at the bus stop."

It's a sunny winter's day when we meet on the outskirts of York, Ms Hayward raising her voice to be heard over the cluck and scuffle of hens and goats in the stable yard where her horse Tilly boards.

Despite the idyllic setting, the 44-year-old is apprehensive of what is to come, only too aware that it is only a matter of hours before she boards a flight bound for Patagonia.

The race begins on Thursday. Twenty riders, covering 310 miles - or 500km - across some of the wildest terrain in the world. Dubbed the 'Gaucho Derby', it means cowboy style.

Shirley Haywood, who is on Thursday to compete in a 310-mile horse race across the wilds of Patagonia. Image: Gary Longbottom.

Each competitor will have to carry what they need, leading one horse and riding another, camping in the shadows of mountains as they navigate alone.

"It's a bit daunting," she admits with a laugh. "For all of the last year I've been getting better. I thought this would be a great way just to know, for myself, that I'm back.

"If I can do this, I can do anything. I'm not a competitive rider - I'm just someone who likes to ride at the weekends."

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Escrick's Shirley Haywood, pictured with horse Tilly and she prepares for a mammoth challenge just over a year after suffering a brain haemorrhage. Image: Gary Longbottom.

Ms Haywood, a stepmother to four, had fallen ill in December 2018 with a splitting pain in her head. She was given migraine pills but the GP, concerned, later called her back.

He didn't like unexplained headaches, he said, and together with her husband they insisted she go for further checks.

"There was an orange size lump in my head, where I was bleeding," says Ms Hayward. "It's a condition I would have had since birth, but I wasn't aware of it."

She had been ready for surgery, with all the paperwork signed, when the doctors had paused. The blood had clotted, her body on the road to healing itself.

For 10 days through the Gaucho Derby Shirley Heywood will ride one horse and lead another, crossing 500km of terrain in Patagonia. Image: Gary Longbottom.

But the journey to recovery has still been a long one, with months recuperating at her parents' farm in Grange Moor, Huddersfield. And in a time for reflection, on the corporate life she once led as a programme manager spending days every week travelling across the country.

"If someone had told me on that Sunday afternoon something would happen to me and I would never go back, I wouldn't have believed them," she says.

"In some respects, at least afterwards, it was a huge relief. Definitely for my family, they thought I was pushing too hard.

"I've had an amazing year. Not just riding, as I couldn't to start with. But doing pottery classes, having coffee with friends.

"All the things you think you will do when you have a day off but you never get around to.

"I do have to go back to work, the serious stuff will pick back up," she adds. "But I'm trying to stay open on the ride, to meeting people who live a bit differently."

Shirley Haywood, 44, pictured with horse Tilly in Escrick. Image: Gary Longbottom.

Gaucho Derby

There is a courage to her conviction in this challenge. The original gauchos were nomadic horsemen, clothed in ponchos which would double as saddle blanket and sleepwear.

Ms Hayward will have some modern comforts, though is limited to what she can carry in saddlebags. She has counted out 10 teabags, one for each day.

"There are so many things that could go wrong, I'm trying not to imagine those," she says. "I'm just hoping this body can take me round."

Her outlook has changed, and her priorities, she says. While she may be travelling around the world to enjoy the outdoors, she laughs, she is now so much more appreciative of it.

And while this is a race, it is more about the experiences, she adds: "Some people will want to race to win, for me it's more about finishing."

The Gaucho Derby begins on Thursday, March 5, and will last for around 10 days.

Shirley Haywood is raising £3,000 for two charities, Cool Earth which works alongside rainforest communities to halt deforestation and climate change, and Yorkshire-based Autism Angels which uses horses to help families and children living with autism in the region.

To follow her progress on the race visit theadventurists.com/gauchoderby, or to sponsor her search Shirley Haywood on JustGiving.

Into the wild for Yorkshire woman who had brain bleed the size of an orange