A horse had to be put down and its rider taken to hospital as a result of a collision with two vehicles.
Police were called to the incident, on the A167 in County Durham, yesterday morning. (15 January) .
A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “Officers were called shortly before 11am to a collision near the Foresters Arms, at Coatham Mundeville, involving a horse and rider and two vehicles.
“The female rider of the horse was taken to hospital with a leg injury.
“Tragically, the horse suffered significant injures and was euthanised at the scene to prevent further suffering.”
The most recent statistics released by the British Horse Society (BHS) as part of its Dead Slow road safety campaign show that there were 2,943 incidents reported to the BHS in 2021. As a result of these, 66 horses died, and 129 were injured.
There was also 126 people injured as a result of horse-related road incidents in 2021, and 13% of riders were victims of road rage or abuse.
The BHS has previously told H&H it understands only about 10% of road incidents involving horses are reported to the society, via its website or the Horsei app, so the true figures may be many times higher.
Changes to the Highway Code were brought in a year ago setting out how drivers should pass horses safely on the roads; at a maximum speed of 10mph and leaving a distance of at least two metres.
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