Clare Balding previously recalled the “worst thing” that happened to her when she was racing on a horse.
Telly favourite Clare grew up in a horse-racing family, with her father Ian, being a well-known horse trainer. As a result, Clare – who is on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh today (December 7) – fell in love with horse riding as a young girl.
However, years back, things took a terrifying turn for Clare while she was riding a horse…
Clare Balding on horrifying accident
In an interview from September 2025, Clare was quizzed about the “worst thing that happened when you were racing”.
The animal lover went on to recall an incident when she was an amateur jockey that ended up with her getting rushed to hospital in the back of an ambulance.
“I remember riding in a race at Kempton when my stirrup leather snapped. I hit the deck and got kicked in the head by one of the other runners,” Clare told The Telegraph.
Clare ‘couldn’t remember how to climb’
She went on: “The next thing I knew I was waking up in the ambulance asking if the horse I was riding was okay (he was) and saying that I would have won. Two days later, still concussed. I was looking at the stairs at home and realised I couldn’t remember how to climb them.”
Talking about her lifelong love of riding, Clare also previously told Sheer Luxe: “I loved the feeling that there was something on this planet I could do well.
“Riding also had that sense of freedom. And the adrenaline rush of doing something that was slightly dangerous, like jumping things that were a bit bigger than you might consider normally. It was just fun, really fun.”
Watch Clare on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday (December 7) at 9:30am on ITV1.
Read more: Celebrity Traitors cast members Kate Garraway and Clare Balding lock horns on GMB: ‘Don’t start!’
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