A WOMAN has been airlifted to hospital after being thrown from her horse onto a gate.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service airlifted the 45-year-old woman from farmland near Thornton-le-Street, Hambleton, North Yorkshire, after being called at about 1pm.

The woman had been out riding when the horse bolted, throwing her onto a gate.

She sustained serious chest injuries in the incident and needed rapid transportation to a major trauma centre, a spokesman for the air ambulance said.

She was flown to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.

The flight took eight minutes.