IF WISHES CAME true, Nicola Wilson would have begun to walk again months before she actually did. The aftermath of the crashing fall she suffered at Badminton in 2022 not only left the popular event rider temporarily paralysed and lying flat on a hospital bed wearing a neck collar for six interminable weeks, but also with family, friends, connections, carers and even strangers constantly willing her to recover. Good wishes were conveyed. Silent prayers said. A lot of beseeching and pleading went on. Social media and website updates on her condition and recovery were devoured by thousands, many of whom had never even met the reigning European Champion. You don't bravely pathfind for a British team year after year, helping to scoop medal after medal, without being noticed and admired by a plethora of people, perhaps all the more so because through those stellar achievements you remain modest, coy even, about all those accomplishments.
It is just over a year since that glittering career was concluded in a split second, Nicola'smount, the talented JL Dublin, who had won her that European goldmedal, catching a leg on Badminton's fence 27c, a basket-style box fence, and rolling over his jockey as he fell. He rose swiftly to his feet, but his rider
