Horses loose in London

[Oma]

Have you seen the news features of 5 Cavalry horses that were spooked and ran through London streets,
One was covered in blood poor animal after it smashed into a Taxi.

4 people were hurt ,
They were all rounded up and put in the Army horse boxes to take back to the barracks,

Apparently they were spooked by workmen loading cement , one bolted up seating is rider and 4 more followed doing the same.

Hope all riders and pedestrians are ok and that poor horse isn’t too bad and doesn’t have to be put to sleep .

[Gemini]

I heard this on the news in the car.
Awful, I hope all are OK.

[Sum1Ls]

Yes, and I’m not surprised. The King’sHorse are stationed at Woolwich Barracks and locally we have now had at least three serious incidents where the horses ran amok and put lives in danger.

It took a huge campaign to get the MoD to stop them practising in Charlton Park where there are always lots of children and adults. It was only through the bravery of a local woman who runs riding for the disabled that they were brought under control. They were pulling a gun carriage at the time so you can imagine the terror.

Then we had three horses with one rider in charge do the same in Charlton Village (which is the Main Street through my part of London), do the same. More damage and people hurt and terrified and then another incident earlier this year where they got ‘spooked’ by an unexpected noise.

Those of us who live round here remove ourselves swiftly when we hear them coming.

They may be handsome to look at but they really are dangerous.

It’s only when the incident is in Central London that it hits the national headlines.

[Oma]

It must have been terrifying Sum1 they are huge beasts .

[Plantaholic]

Doesn’t sound like the best place to have a barracks now.

[Nanto2girls]

Yes i saw this Oma. Its surprising what injuries and damage horses can do.

[Daisy]

How terrifying for the people and horses involved. I've experienced several horse stampedes in the years of living in the New Forest where ponies (and other livestock) roam freely. One of the biggest I was at a safe distance with Eva safely on the lead, and I just stood by a tree and watched. But there have been others where I've been directly in the path of the stampede and had to take avoiding action - basically hiding behind a tree. On one occasion when we still had our Yorkies, there were no trees, jut a few gorse bushes, so I let the dogs off lead knowing they'd run under a bush and I made myself as small and quiet as possible and luckily the ponies avoided me.

It must be much worse in city streets where there are few places to get out of their way.

[Plantaholic]

Dangerous place you live Daisy, been to that area many times but never seen a stampede. Saw the horses galloping around on the news yesterday, quite frightening if you were in their path.

[Clover]

So lucky no injuries to people. I heard on the news that three of the horses are alright but two have had to have surgery. So pleased they didn’t have to be put down, they must have been terrified for such a reaction.
I’m always anxious when I see young riders on the roads or anywhere really.

[Daisy]

Clover, it's amazing how fast they'd run when they were terrified like that.

I'm really careful with any age rider on a horse on our narrow roads. Even the steadiest horse can get spooked by something unusual. OH was driving across the Forest today when a herd of deer ran out in front of him - including a mature stag and several white does - both he and the driver coming towards him were going slowly and stopped safely but even the deer could have spooked any ponies around at that time of day.

Plant, you don't see stampedes that often - we've lived here for 40 years and I'm out on the Forest most days. The most dangerous time is July/August when the stallions are out.