A WOMAN is seriously ill with severe spinal injuries after falling from her horse in North Yorkshire.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service said the 43-year-old woman had been missing for five hours before being found at 1.45 pm yesterday at Stearsby, near Ampleforth.

After being treated at the scene by doctors and paramedics for back and neck injuries, she was flown by helicopter to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, where she was in a serious condition.