Spooked horse bolts home with bloody nose due to ‘idiot’ driver
An event rider who was involved in a potentially catastrophic road incident is calling for drivers to take greater care when passing horses.
Northern Ireland-based Adam Gibson was riding along Huntly Road in Banbridge on Sunday (13 August) when a car overtook and his horse bolted.
“Some idiot decided to overtake at about 60mph and as if that wasn’t enough, he blared the horn while he went past,” the 19-year-old Hartpury student told H&H.
“My gelding, Rosshaven Last Flight (Playboy), took off on quite a steep hill and I had to be careful how I dealt with the situation so he didn’t slip or come down on his knees.
“He galloped for about a third of a mile until I found a grassy verge where I thought I could pull him up, but he wasn’t listening and I couldn’t stop him.
“There was quite a severe bend but luckily there wasn’t oncoming traffic – there was no way they could have stopped in time.
“Eventually he slowed down and I was able to jump off and grab him.”
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Adam led the nine-year-old back to his yard, where he discovered his horse had a nosebleed, which he believes was caused by stress.
Playboy, who Adam has owned for two months, recovered and is now back to his normal self.
“He’s done novice eventing, showjumped up to 1.10m and hunted, a bit of a schoolmaster, but the experience got the better of him,” said Adam.
“I took him out on the road this morning and he wasn’t fazed at all.”
Continued below…
Former Top Gear presenter presents hard-hitting riding road safety message
'If you hit a horse hard, it’s going
Riders must ‘change their behaviour’ to make roads safer
Rider and broadcaster Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes spoke out at
Horse dragged for 50m by bus in ‘horrific’ road incident
The horse was being hacked out with two
Adam shared news of the incident on Facebook and hopes that it will help encourage drivers to pass wide and slow in future.
“I was gobsmacked by the response, it’s had more than 6,000 shares,” Adam added.
“I wouldn’t wish this terrible experience on anyone and I want to try to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.