A horse and rider were injured after they were chased by off-road bikers — who laughed when they were asked to stop.
Alana Henson was riding with five others, including her 12-year-old daughter Paige and friend Charlene, on the Tengate bridleway in Strelley, Nottinghamshire, on 26 September when they could hear off-road bikes.
“The bridleway goes through three fields and we could see two bikes in the third field. One wasn’t wearing a helmet and we think they were quite young,” Alana told H&H.
“The bikes stopped when they saw us. We made the decision to turn back to avoid passing them but as we turned they followed us.”
Alana said her horse Monty, who was being ridden by Charlene, spooked at the noise of the bikes and “bolted”.
“As he took off the bikes passed the group and chased after him, revving their engines. We shouted to them to stop but they just laughed,” she said.
“Charlene fell off and the bikes just drove away. It was terrifying, Charlene’s daughter was riding with us and it was so upsetting.”
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An ambulance was called for Charlene, while Alana was able to catch Monty.
“I work in administration in a hospital and am used to dealing with stressful situations so I went into auto-pilot. I called the yard and some liveries came in a car with blankets for Charlene while the rest of us led the horses back,” said Alana.
“Charlene had her collar bone X-rayed and thankfully nothing was broken, but she suffered bad bruising. Monty is lame and the chiropractor is coming to see him.”
Alana reported the incident to the police.
“We occasionally meet dirt bikes on the bridleway and the bikers have always been respectful, they’ll turn their engines off and we’ll have a chat and we can all share the bridleway,” she said.
“I hope by sharing what happened I can make others aware and encourage people to report anything similar, and hope it might reach the bikers who did this – they need to know they caused a serious accident.”
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said the force is appealing for information on the individuals, who drove off toward Bilborough Road.
“One of the offenders has been described as white, with dark hair, slim build, acne on his face and wearing a black hoody. One of the bikes was fluorescent bright green and yellow and white,” said the spokesman.
Anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident 547 of 26 September 2020.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
