DOUG LAING
Patoka farmer's wife Sarah Jane MacDonald spent much of her life helping others treat the wounded and save lives by teaching them the fundamentals of first aid.
But, tragically, nothing could save her after she fell from a horse on Wednesday while riding on Emerald Hill, which she and husband
Grant farmed off Waihau Road.
It is not clear what time it happened, but about 10.30am, she was found by Mr MacDonald. He had last seen her as he took three-year-old daughter Charlotte out on to the farm while her mother went out to ride.
Mrs MacDonald's father, Jim Stove, told Hawke's Bay Today from his home in Havelock North last night: "It was on the airstrip on the farm. As Grant came back for morning tea, he could see the horse standing on the skyline at the end of the strip ... "
Mrs MacDonald, a former Red Cross manager in Hawke's Bay, who still ran occasional first-aid courses despite the geographical remoteness of life near the Kaweka foothills, lay badly injured nearby.
The 32-year-old mother-of-three was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital, but did not recover and died on Thursday morning. Mr Stove said his daughter had been a keen pony club rider in her teens, competing at the Hawke's Bay A and P Show and other gymkhana, but had only recently taken an active interest in equestrian sport again.
She had been involved in the Patoka school and kindergarten communities of Charlotte and the girl's brothers, Hamish, eight, and William, seven, particularly since she and her husband moved to Emerald Hill from another property at Links Road, near Taradale, about four years ago.
Mr MacDonald, one of four sons of well-known Pakowhai farmer Malcolm MacDonald, has coached one of the boys' rugby teams at Napier Old Boys Marist.
His wife grew up on a Havelock North orchard, one of three children of Mr Stove and wife Sue, and went to Te Mata School and Havelock North High School. Through Massey University she studied for a degree in social work and a Diploma in Advanced Business Management.
Her funeral will be held at the Hawke's Bay Racing Centre's Saddles room on Monday, starting at 11am.
