A MOTHER who underwent more than 20 operations to rebuild her face after being stamped on by a horse has taken her case to the courts in a bid to win damages from its owner.

Kara Goldsmith has been left unable to feel a kiss from her children following the accident in March 2008 that shattered one side of her face and left her with what doctors described as the worst facial injuries they had seen.

Now, in a test case for equestrians across the UK, she is suing the owner, businessman Bradley Patchcott, who had put the animal up for sale, as she believes he did not warn her that it could be difficult to control.

“The last four years have been a hell of a journey,” said Kara, who lives with husband Ronnie and their two children Alex aged 10 and Jessica, six, in Consett, County Durham.

“I have come a long way but I still have a long way to go. I have had nearly 30 operations and will need more in the future.

“This legal action is not about the money. I just want the owner to admit responsibility and to maybe stop this from happening to someone else.” The 39-year-old had been riding the horse with the intention of buying him when the animal, called Red, started to rear and buck, throwing her to the ground.

As she lay in a field at Stanley, County Durham, the nine-year-old gelding stamped on her face.

She remembers the accident as if it was yesterday.

“I was lying under the belly of the horse and I saw the hoof coming down on my head.

“When I got up I tried to ring my husband, but I couldn’t speak.

“My face had been split open. I looked down and saw the blood and the contents of my mouth was hanging from my mouth and I caught it in my riding hat.”

Mrs Goldsmith was taken to specialists at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

She left hospital two weeks later, still struggling to speak and fed by a tube.