Paula Péril The Horseback Ride

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New report – “The Horseback Ride”
Paula Péril. She decides to take a break from investigations. Horseback ride in the Bay of Somme, along the salt marsh trail. The day before, heavy rains, the ground is waterlogged.

Story
10:12 a.m. Departure from the equestrian center. Paula mounts a calm gray mare. Dressed as in your photos, suitable for riding: red turtleneck sweater, gray skirt replaced by black riding breeches for the saddle, but she keeps her black belt, thin tights under the breeches, black high boots.

10:38 a.m. The trail runs alongside a mudflat. The ground is black, glistening. Puddles everywhere. The guide warns: stay on the trail.

10:44 a.m. A gust of wind lifts a plastic tarp in a field. The mare jumps, bolts for three strides, then rears up suddenly. Paula falls backward. She drops the reins and falls to her left.

As she falls, her head hits a flat stone at the edge of the path. A sharp blow to the temple. She loses consciousness instantly.

She doesn't land on the path. She falls a meter further on, into a depression filled with quicksand created by the rain.
Her body sinks immediately. First her boots, sucked in up to her ankles. Then her calves, then her thighs. Her black pants and red sweater become coated in liquid mud. In twenty seconds, the sand is up to her waist. In forty seconds, it's up to her chest.
The mare has stopped further on. The guide returns and sees Paula unconscious, half-submerged, her head back, her red collar still visible.
He jumps up, lies flat on the hard part of the path, and grabs a lead rope. He loops the rope under Paula's armpits. The sand pulls hard. With each pull, her body rose a few centimeters, then the sand swallowed her up again.

At 10:47 a.m., the sand had risen to her chin. Her mouth was two centimeters from the surface. The guide held her head above water with one hand and pulled with the other.

10:49 a.m. The firefighters arrived with a board. They slid the board under Paula, breaking the suction. They pulled together. Her body emerged in one lump, with a sucking sound. Her red sweater was black with mud, her pants stuck to her, her boots full of wet sand.
Paula regained consciousness at 10:53 a.m., lying on the board, covered in gray sand from head to toe. She was breathing, spitting out mud.
She was saved at the very last minute, just before the sand covered her face.
Testimony of Paula Péril:

“I needed air. I took a horse to the Bay of Somme. It had rained a lot.” The horse got spooked by a tarp. It reared up. I fell.

I just remember the impact against a rock, on my temple. Then, blackness.

I woke up on a plank, covered in sand. They told me I'd fallen into quicksand and was sinking while unconscious.
The guide saw me with the sand up to my chest, then up to my chin. He held my head above water. Without him, I would have gone under.
When they pulled me out, my red sweater was covered in mud, my pants were stuck to it, my boots were heavy with sand. I couldn't feel my legs.
This is the twenty-sixth time I've been caught. First time on horseback, first time knocked unconscious on a rock and sinking into quicksand without even realizing it.
I kept a handful of that sand. It's still in one of my boots. In his notebook, written that evening in the hospital: "26. Bay of Somme. Horse. Reared up at 10:44 a.m. Rock fell, loss of consciousness. Quicksand. Sinking up to his chin. Rescued at the last minute at 10:49 a.m."