Medical teams worked for around three hours to try and save a headteacher who died after falling from a horse last month.

Mother-of-two Lesley Farrow, aged 47 and from Bradfield Combust, was in charge of Woodhall Community Primary School in Sudbury and the daughter of the late Philip Morley, of Milden, near Hadleigh.

Mr Morley, who died in 2012, was a prominent member of the Suffolk Horse Society and a high-profile champion of the Suffolk Horse.

Earlier today the inquest on Mrs Farrow’s death heard how she led a busy life and had made a successful career of being a headteacher.

A statement read out on behalf of her husband Tim said the accident happened shortly after he and his son had arrived home from a day of motorcycle racing on July 11.

He said he had been told by Mrs Farrow she would probably be riding when they got home but in fact she was just getting ready to set off when they arrived.

Mr Farrow’s statement said he helped his wife onto the horse, saying it was “slightly playing up, but that’s what horses do”.

Before she left he reminded her the ground was hard and to be careful.

However it was only after she had disappeared from sight the couple’s daughter appeared and told Mr Farrow his wife had fallen from the horse.

He said she had tried to get up and the children tried to talk to her while he rang for an ambulance, at around 5.30pm.

“I could see it was serious,” Mr Farrow’s statement said. “The ambulance crew were efficient but I could tell it was dire.”

He added the children had told him the horse bucked when it saw a pony in the stable and ran to meet it, causing Mrs Farrow to fall.

The inquest also heard a statement from Dr Jeremy Field, a consultant anaesthetist at West Suffolk Hospital who helped treat Mrs Farrow when she arrived shortly after 6pm.

Mrs Farrow had suffered multiple broken ribs in the fall and during her time in hospital suffered a number of cardiac arrests.

Hospital staff also performed chest compressions on her a number of times as they worked to save her, with specialists from other hospitals also attending her.

However she was pronounced dead at 9pm.

Dr Dan Sharpstone, Her Majesty’s assistant coroner, said he was recording a verdict of accidental death.