Professional dressage rider, 31, was killed when she was kicked in the head by her 'aggressive' young stallion

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A professional horse rider was killed after being kicked in the head by her 'aggressive' young stallion, an inquest has heard.

Samantha Cawkwell, 31, suffered a fractured skull after she entered a paddock with the animal named Gonzo.

A paramedic who attended the scene was forced to hurdle the fence to get away from the horse, which was described as 'skittish' and 'anxious'.

Samantha Cawkwell (pictured, left, and, right, with her step-mother Elaine and father John) died after she entered a field with an aggressive young horse in July

Blackpool Coroners Court heard how Miss Cawkwell and her partner Andrew Hackett had only owned Gonzo for around a month before her death.

It was kept on its own in the secured paddock at the stables owned by Mr Hackett's family near Lytham, Lancashire, at which her own horse Fabio was also kept.

Miss Cawkwell was found face down in a field on the afternoon of July 19 by two friends who had turned up to go out on a pre-organised hack.

They arrived to find no sign of Miss Cawkwell, but after searching individual stables, they spotted her close to the fence of one of the fields and it quickly became apparent she was dead, the inquest heard.

A statement from a paramedic who attended the scene read: 'She was lying face down with her head turned to the left side.

'We had to vacate the field as an aggressive horse was charging towards us and we were unable to return to the field due to the horse.'

Miss Cawkwell, on another horse, not that thought to have killed her, was experienced with the animals

The 31-year-old (pictured during her youth on a pony) had been riding since she was a child

Pathologist Dr Sameer Shaktawat, who performed a post mortem examination, said evidence suggested she had been lying in the same position for up to two hours before she was found.

She had oval bruising to the left side of her body consistent with a horse's hoof, the inquest was told.

Dr Shaktawat said: 'Just falling from a push or a kick would not produce the injuries seen.'

Friend Georgina Priddey raised the alarm after seeing Miss Cawkwell's boots and jeans in the field.

She said: 'I've seen the horse before but they'd only had him around four weeks before this happened. The horse wasn't old enough to be ridden, he was handled but not ridden.'

Miss Cawkwell's partner Andrew Hackett said: 'Myself and Sam had a lot of experience of horses, I have been riding them since I was eight and she had too from a very young age.

'We have been looking after them for the last ten years. She was very competent.'

The incident happened at a stables owned by her partner Andrew Hackett's family near Lytham, Lancashire

When asked by the coroner why Miss Cawkwell may have gone into the field alone with Gonzo, Mr Hackett replied: 'The only thing I can think is she was going in to get the dog or she was checking on the water troughs to make sure there was enough water.'

Detective Inspector Lee Wilson from Blackpool Police told the inquest how when officers arrived at the scene, the horse was behaving aggressively.

He said: 'In my view Miss Cawkwell had been turned on by the horse which was descried as being a recent acquisition.'

Coroner for Blackpool and the Fylde, Alan Wilson, recorded a cause of death as traumatic subdural haemorrhage.

He said: 'I find that Samantha died not as a result of natural causes and I'm clear about that.

'I'm content that it's probably the case that the subdural haemorrhage suffered by Samantha Cawkwell, otherwise a healthy young individual, was as a result of being in this field with this horse on this date.

'The horse at some point on that afternoon has inflicted injuries upon her and a subsequent post mortem confirmed those injuries included a significant head injury which proved fatal.'