THE husband of a well-known West Somerset woman who died in a freak horse-riding accident has thanked everyone who tried to save her.

Fiona Warstat, 48, died instantly when she was thrown from a horse as it stumbled down a steep bank alongside a track in Lucott Wood near Hawkcombe, Porlock, on Boxing Day.

Her husband Stuart told an inquest in Taunton on Tuesday he was extremely grateful for the response of the emergency services, her riding companion and people living near the accident scene.

"I appreciate that everyone did all that they could at the time," Mr Warstat said.

He told the inquest his wife had been a keen horsewoman for around 40 years and he had "every confidence" in her riding ability.

Mrs Warstat, who had been wearing a riding hat, suffered a fatal head injury when she was thrown against a tree.

She was riding with friend Claire Rumary when her horse, an eight-year-old gelding owned by Ms Rumary, suddenly stumbled or was frightened.

Ms Rumary said the pair had been going at a "fairly slow" pace when she saw Mrs Warstat's horse "lurch to the right".

She was unable to say why the horse lurched and did not see what happened next as her own mount was spooked and turned in the opposite direction on the track.

"We were just going along and all of a sudden the horse lurched to the right," she said.

"Why she fell, I don't know. The horse just went down the bank.

"I stopped and got off and ran back up the path but Fiona's horse had disappeared."

The gelding eventually made its way back to the track and, around five minutes after the incident, Ms Rumary found Mrs Warstat around ten feet down the bank, slumped at the foot of a tree.

Her riding hat was still in place but Ms Rumary was unable to find a pulse or see any sign of breathing.

Unable to get a signal on her mobile phone, she ran to a nearby farmhouse to get help.

Mrs Warstat was pronounced dead at the scene by an air ambulance paramedic.

West Somerset coroner Michael Rose said that Mrs Warstat was an experienced rider but it was unlikely anyone could have stayed in control once a horse had slipped down the steep bank.

"Either the horse stumbled or something triggered it off, but the gelding did make its way down the verge and it is fairly steep," he said.

"It would have been impossible to have controlled that horse.

"Sadly, Mrs Warstat was thrown and was thrown towards a tree and that is what caused the head injury that was responsible for her death.

"I think she was killed instantly."

Mr Rose recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said horse-riding always carried some element of risk and that Mrs Warstat had taken reasonable precautions to protect herself from injury.

She was well-known in West Somerset as a pet behaviourist and dog trainer and had two children, Sam and Amy.