KEY POINTS:
Champion jockey Michael Walker says he is getting a second chance at life, as he recovers from serious head injuries suffered in a pighunting accident in May.
Walker, 24, fell 10m down a bluff while carrying a pig on his back in remote bush country in north Taranaki.
He is back riding horses at trackwork in New Plymouth as part of his rehabilitation, but does not know yet whether he will get the all-clear from medics to resume his race-riding career.
He said yesterday that he felt better than he had ever done before, because he had the chance to freshen up after his hectic race career.
The only problem he now had after the accident was fatigue, he told host Peter Earley in an interview on Radio Trackside.
"I have gone from supposed to be dead, to ending up in a wheelchair all my life ... to brain damage. I have pulled through all of that, Peter.
"I'm enjoying my rehab and enjoying being a father and a partner full time for the first time in my life.
"I'm getting better day by day. I have just started riding trackwork which is part of my rehab, riding one or two horses a morning."
It was clear Walker was hoping to get approval to ride again, saying: "I would hate to be the doctor who says to me, 'never ride again'."
That decision will be in the hands of a team of medics, including a neuropsychologist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist, all of whom he visits regularly.
He never thought he would give riding away.
"I am a determined person and I have had a lot of hurdles in my life and have always jumped them all and come through still standing on the other side," he said.
"This is definitely a second chance at my life for me. Physically and mentally I feel 110 per cent except for the fatigue."
Walker said his weight ballooned to 64kg at one stage since May but fitness work and physio has got rid of it.
If he was unable to ride competitively again, he would stay in the industry, possibly becoming a trainer, he said.
"If I do finally one day get cleared, all I can say to racing people is look out!"
- NZPA
