Retired team-chaser mare attacked with blunt instrument

The owner of a twenty-year-old team chaser says he’s sick to his stomach after she was attacked and left bleeding from her rear end.

Owner Mark Smith of Whitfields livery yard, Twyford, Berkshire, said the broodmare had been found at 10am on Friday July 11 with blood seeping from her vulva.

He said: “It turns my stomach to relate this incident. The vet said, in his opinion, the internal injuries were consistent with blows from a blunt instrument. He said he could think of no logical way they could have been caused by an accident.”

Vet James Crawford, from Straight Mile Equine Practise, Wokingham, Berkshire said: “There was a lot of bruising and a wound about an inch inside the vagina. I’ve never seen anything like this before. We checked the field and could see nothing that could have caused it.”

The incident was reported to the police and the RSPCA, and forensic crime officers visited the site to collect evidence. The horse, which was one of the original horses in the Bollocks to Blair Team Chase team, should make a complete recovery.

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