BRITISH Eventing’s performance manager Yogi Breisner has branded Laura Collett a ‘fighter’ who will ‘dig in’ and get through her nightmarish ordeal.

Collett is currently in intensive care at Southampton General Hospital after falling from her mount, Tis a Beauty, at Tweseldown Horse Trials on Monday, and remains sedated following damage to her lungs.

Breisner told the Advertiser that the 23-year-old, widely-tipped to become an international superstar in years to come, was woken from an induced coma on Tuesday morning and a statement on Collett’s official website said she communicated with her family, who are at her bedside.

The statement also claimed that the Membury-based eventer remained in a “stable condition” in her hospital bed.

Breisner, who has worked closely with Collett for several years as part of British Eventing’s World Class Development Programme, believes the rider has all the mental and physical attributes to make a speedy and full recovery.

“It is quite a nasty one. They took her out of her seduced coma this morning for a short while and they were very pleased with her reactions under the circumstances,” he said.

“At the moment it’s very early days so it’s difficult to say but the vibes are definitely positive.

“It’s a very common part of event riders and sports people in general that it is part of their make-up to be a fighter.

“I’m sure that she’ll dig in there and she is in very good hands.

“It seems that they are doing a fantastic job of looking after her and she’s in very safe hands.”

The national and international eventing communities have rallied round in support of Collett over the past 36 hours, and Breisner emphasised how the incident has affected everyone within the sport.

“It’s a very close-knit community and everyone pulls together in these sort of situations,” he said.

“There have been lots of telephone calls, texts and emails in support of Laura’s family and well wishes for her to make a speedy recovery.”

The Swede stressed how uncommon such falls are within the sport.

He said: “British Eventing, who run the sport, have a very good safety record and a very good safety policy.

“Part of that is the statistics behind the sport and it is a very, very small percentage of accidents that happen like this.

“It is very rare.”