Experts say that after a setback, it’s good to get straight back on the horse. It’s advice that Isla van der Westhuizen has literally taken to heart.
Last year, the seven-year-old from Blenheim suffered a freak accident when one of her family’s horses bolted, kicking her in the back and stopping her heart.
“Isla had no heartbeat for 15 minutes,” says her mother Lizl of the rare medical event that almost robbed her of her youngest child. “We honestly thought we had lost her.”
Lizl, a dental technician, and her husband Inus, a winemaker, emigrated to New Zealand from South Africa in 2006, eventually settling in Blenheim’s wine country and having daughters Izelle, 16, Lara, 14, and Isla.
A horse lover since 13, when she was given her first pony,…