Rider ‘lucky to be alive’ after horse killed in road accident
A rider has said he is lucky to be alive after the horse he was riding died in a collision with a car in Bridgwater Somerset, earlier today.
Rider Barry Francis suffered a broken leg in the incident, which happened at 11.40am.
Five-year-old Arab cross cob, Cindy, died before the vet arrived on the scene.
Mr Francis told local newspaper The Bridgwater Mercury: “The car drove into the back of her and we were flung into the air — she came down on top of me.
“I am very lucky. If she had landed on my head, it would have been a different story.
“I can’t believe it has happened. I have been riding for 43 years and this is the first time anything like this has happened.
“It’s going to take me a long time to get back into the saddle again.”
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Cindy’s owner Christina Barnett, of nearby Folletts Farm, told the paper: “She died in agony in the road.
“I have another horse called Shadow and he will be distraught.
“I had to watch her die as the blood drained from her mouth.”
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said no one has been arrested over the incident.
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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.