Almost six months after her fall, Canberra apprentice jockey Chynna Marston wakes up with a headache and is struggling with her short-term memory.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But the 23-year-old, originally from Griffith, still hopes to return to the saddle when she's given the all-clear by specialists after her fall at the Tumut races in November.
Marston was unconscious for five minutes, suffered a seizure, her nose was broken in two places, she had trauma to her T2 and T3 vertebrae and damaged ligaments and muscles in her neck.
She was flown to Canberra hospital.
Marston is struggling with the after-effects, which she said were slowly improving.
The former law and philosophy student postponed her studies to take up riding and she considered returning to the books to help pass the time during her lay-up, but her memory issues prevented it.
But she's hoping her next MRI scan will give her neck the all-clear when she sees the neurologist in the coming weeks.
She wants to return to the saddle, but if she can't, she would love to move into broadcast journalism covering racing or possibly training horses.
"I still have headaches when I wake up in the morning, it's more the dizziness and the short-term memory loss - I can't remember people's names or remember meeting someone," Marston said.
"I think it's started to improve, but only slowly, and hopefully in time it will get better ... I'm still here that's the main thing."
Marston has also had to deal with the death of one friend and injuries to two others during her rehabilitation.
A week before her own fall, Caitlin Forrest died at Murray Bridge in South Australia, while Luke Dittman fractured his vertebrae in January, and Jack Hill was unconscious for a week earlier this month.
"The fortnight prior [to my crash] a friend of mine was killed over in South Australia and two other friends of mine have been hurt in the line of duty," she said.
"It's starting to be quite prevalent and a bit of a concern in that regard."