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Three horses have died after low-flying aircraft passed over Cornwall.
Two jets flew over the county last Wednesday (12 April).
Rider Claire Sexton keeps her horse at a yard in Bissoe, between Truro and Redruth.
Her yard owner is a knackerman who had to put down two horses on 12 April and another the following day.
It is believed the horses were injured after being spooked by the jets.
Two suffered broken legs and another had stress-related colic.
“My yard owner, a skilled and experienced licensed knackerman, was asked to go out to shoot three horses in succession, in three different locations,” Ms Sexton told H&H.
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
“[He] saw the jets really low before — he said when they flew over his farm, they were so low that he could see the pilots’ faces.”
Ms Sexton shared the news on social media to discover if other horse or livestock had been affected and she found that two other horses had been injured in the area; a mare found lame and a horse who had a fall that resulted in facial injuries.
“What if I’d been out riding on a busy road when those planes had flown overhead?” she said.
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“We have the Culdrose naval air-base about 15 miles as the crow flies from my yard, eight to 10 miles from the homes of the other fatalities, and the air ambulance is not unheard of, so horses in the area are relatively used to aircraft, but these were exceptionally fast, low and noisy, apparently, as the anecdotal evidence in the Facebook thread attests.”
When contacted by Horse & Hound, RNAS Culdrose stated that the jets were not theirs, but US aircraft from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
H&H has approached RAF Lakenheath for a comment and will update this article as soon as a response is received.
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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.