A home-produced show pony has died following injuries sustained in a traffic accident on the M4 near Swansea.
Penual Jilly was on her way back from the Ponies (UK) Winter Championships at Addington Manor on Sunday 6 March — where she was Lee-Smith reserve supreme — when a car collided with the back of the trailer in which she was travelling.
Vets and fire engines were at the scene for two hours, but the pony could not be saved.
Owner Hayley Grota said that Jilly was “a mother’s dream”.
The seven-year-old Welsh section A had already won several in-hand classes and these championships were her first under saddle, where she was partnered by Hayley’s six-year-old daughter Liberty.
“She was 11.31/2hh and would have lasted Libby for years,” said Hayley, who had spent two years looking for a suitable first ridden type.
“Jilly was a lovely, kind pony with a fantastic temperament and didn’t get the chance to show how good she was.”
The Grotas normally transport their horses in a horsebox, but were using a trailer while their horsebox was being resprayed in Cardiff on the way home.
