An owner is warning others of the risks of travelling horses after her gelding suffered a “horrific” ordeal.
Bedfordshire-based Krissy Serino was taking her nine-year-old horse, Twin, to the vets at around 10.15am last Tuesday (1 September) when the incident took place.
She was travelling with a friend in a rear-facing horsebox on the A1 northbound and had just passed St Neots when she noticed something was not right.
Ms Serino had a camera in the cab of the horsebox monitoring to the horse area of the vehicle and saw the Twin rear up.
“We pulled over as quickly as we could — there wasn’t even a lay-by,” Ms Serino told H&H.
“I saw through the glass window in the back of the cab that his hind legs were in the air.
“I couldn’t open the back door because I knew if I did he might try to come out. The box was shaking and he was going berserk.
“I thought he was going to die.”
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Police, firefighters and two vets came to assist at the roadside and the motorway was closed in both directions.
Twin was sedated before the horsebox was slowly driven to a field further up the road.
“Firefighters took the rear door off its hinges and amazingly he managed to get out,” said Ms Serino.
“The vet looked him over and told me I would have to prepare for the worst.”
Twin was taken to Fellowes Farm Veterinary Clinic in Huntingdon for treatment.
“He had suffered a severe fetlock injury and the main concern is that it could be infected. We are monitoring his condition,” said Ms Serino.
The 28-year-old has owned Twin for two years and enjoys competing across the disciplines with the Connemara x appaloosa.
She is now urging others to take care when travelling their horses.
“Things like weave grills could help prevent your horse from trying to jump the partition and it would be good if there was a requirement to have a camera — I dread to think what would happen if I didn’t have one,” she added.
“There will always be freak accidents, but it’s worth putting things in place to try to prevent them from happening.”
