Horse dead and rider hospitalised after car accident
A Kent rider is in hospital and her horse has died after being involved in a road accident.
Diane Hogburn was riding 22-year-old Benson with a friend along a country road — Ninn Lane — at Great Chart near Ashford on Saturday afternoon when the 16.2hh warmblood was struck by a car.
Mrs Hogburn was taken to hospital where she was found to have fractured a vertebra in her back.
The recently retired school-master, whom Mrs Hogburn had on loan, had to be put down.
“Benson was absolutely a horse in a million. He had taken Diane from being quite a nervous rider to taking part in one-day events,” said Lucy Seymour, who is a friend of Mrs Hogburn.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.