MYSTERY surrounds why a horse “bolted” on a country road near Bethania causing its 39-year-old female rider to perform an emergency dismount which left her with a “devastating traumatic brain injury” which she could not survive, an inquest has heard.

Lisa May Davis, from Bethania near Llanon, jumped off Jaws - a 12-year-old, 17 hands high former racehorse - on the morning of Sunday, 2 October after the horse became spooked by something and began to gallop, an inquest into Miss Davis’ death in Aberystwyth on Wednesday heard.

Miss Davies, who was a “competent and confident rider” the inquest was told, was out on a ride with the 12-year-old daughter of her partner David Spong when the tragic incident occurred.

After becoming “frantic” that she wouldn’t be able to stop Jaws, Miss Davies decided to jump off, but jumped towards the tarmac road rather than the grass verge on the other side, the inquest was told.

She came down on the road on her back, hitting her head on the tarmac “very hard”.

Despite wearing a “very expensive” helmet, Miss Davis suffered injuries that gave her “no chance of survival”, the inquest heard.

A local farmer, Richard Downes, passed the scene in his Land Rover and called an ambulance while attempting CPR on Miss Davies for around half an hour.

Miss Davies, was eventually airlifted to the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff, where she died in the intensive care unit in the early hours of Monday, 3 October.

Her partner, Mr Spong, said he was unable to say why what had happened had happened.

“I have racked my brain to think of a reason why Jaws reacted or why Lisa decided to jump off but there’s no reason for it,” Mr Spong told the inquest.

“I have been over and over it every day since.

“Maybe it was just a split-second of panic.”

Mr Spong told the inquest that Jaws was a “big baby” and a “complete gentleman” - a horse that they had “never had any problems with” in the past.

Ceredigion coroner Peter Brunton, summing up his verdict of death by misadventure, said: “At the end of the day a horse is an animal, and animals can be unpredictable.

“For reasons unknown he began to canter, which developed into a gallop.

“It is unsatisfactory that no reasonable explanation for why the horse bolted has been forthcoming. It will remain a mystery.”

Miss Davies suffered a pelvic fracture, a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain following the incident.

Her death was caused by a “constellation of unsurvivable injuries”, the inquest heard.