A rider hacking home on a quiet country lane was hit by a car at 7am on Friday (17 June).
Julia Booth was walking her 16.3hh bay mare Cistinia when she saw a “a BMW coming at speed“.
She was wearing high-vis gear and the visibility was good.
“I put up my hand for him but he just kept coming,” said Mrs Booth.
“He hit her upper forearm, the shoulder then got caught in the wing mirror and we seemed to travel with the car.
“The next thing I knew I was 21 feet down the road with Cistinia struggling to get to her feet,” she said.
The homebred nine-year-old mare has competed in four novice level BE events, being placed at her last two.
On her last outing at Brandhall (4-5 June) she jumped double clear in the novice regional final.
This weekend she was due to compete at Catton in the novice class but that “obviously won’t happen” said Mrs Booth.
The horse was 100 metres from home when hit so she was led back, and the vet was called.
Mrs Booth, who was stiff but uninjured, called Cheshire Police.
She said the driver told officer he was travelling at 20mph and that the horse had reared.
“Cistinia has been ridden down that road since she was broken in five years ago and has never reared,” said Mrs Booth, who keeps the family’s two horses fit for her daughter Holly to compete.
The vet is coming back this weekend to check if the shoulder needs an x-ray.
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“It is too early to see how superficial the wounds are. She’s taken a hell of a bang,” said Mrs Booth.
“I hope she will return to a competition career, but don’t know how the muscles or bones have been damaged.”
The incident is being investigated by Cheshire Police.
