‘Vandalised’ fence causes in-foal mares to die in road crash
Two in-foal mares and a filly were killed on a Wiltshire A-road after a fence was damaged – apparently deliberately – allowing them escape.
The A36 from Bath to Warminster was shut for three hours in the early hours of Monday (6 February) after eight horses escaped into the road.
Mares Beany and Candy were killed outright in collision with a car and Candy’s two-year-old daughter MooMoo had to be put down at the scene.
The other horses were moved back into the field.
The horses belonged to Chris Van Tromp and Kelly Vowles.
The landowner, who did not wish to be named, said: “We have had a lot of trouble with the wire being cut on our field boundary.
“I had a call just after midnight from the police to say there had been a terrible accident.
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“These were much loved horses. Both mares were due to foal in three weeks’ time. We are devastated.”
The driver of the vehicle, a BMW Z5, was not injured.
Avon and Somerset Police are investigating the cause of 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.