Joint-master killed when horse “spooked” by quad bike

The joint-master of the Brecon and Talybont suffered fatal head injuries after falling from her horse when it was “spooked” by a quad bike, an inquest heard this week.

Sandra Harvey, 67, of Talgarth near Brecon, died in hospital from her injuries eight days after the fall, which happened on 7 November last year.

The quad bike, which was pulling a trailer with a sheepdog in it, was travelling at 15mph along a narrow lane. The driver of the quad bike, farmer David Evans, stopped when he met Mrs Harvey and her sister, Erica Hodges.

In evidence, Mrs Hodges said: “I don’t remember it, it all happened so quickly. The quad bike just suddenly appeared round the corner and the horses sort of went ‘argh’ and stopped dead.

“Mine spun round and went back the way it came from. I stopped and then my sister’s horse came galloping back past me.”

She said both she and her sister had ridden since they were girls and always wore safety hats. Sandra had been a popular master of the hunt since 2003.

A post-mortem of Mrs Harvey’s body found she had died of a fractured skull which caused brain swelling.

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