A horse sadly had to be put down after breaking its leg in a horrific accident on Brean beach on Bank Holiday Monday (August 27th).
Burnham-On-Sea Coastguards and Police were called to help a fallen horse rider on Brean beach at around 1.30pm.
A Coastguard spokesman said: “A pair of horse riders were enjoying the bracing conditions on the beach when one of the horses struck a soft patch of sand that gave way.”
“The weight and momentum of the horse caused a front leg to break with an audible ‘crack’.”
“Immediately the horse went to the floor and the rider followed face first into the sand.”
The injured horse was left in a distressed and unpredictable state, while the rider was helped to safety and the horse was calmed and a brace for the leg fitted.
“Sadly, with the kind of injury sustained, the only thing to do was to keep it calm before the vet arrived where it was humanely put to sleep.”
“While this was going on an RNLI lifeguard had come along to help treat the fallen rider and the Coastguard Operations Centre requested an ambulance.”
“Our job soon became one of keeping a cordon around the stricken horse while shielding it from view with vehicles.”
“The Police also attended to help keep onlookers away and sending any traffic up and around the incident to keep privacy at a maximum.”
“Once the ambulance arrived they assessed the fallen rider further and found her to just be suffering from a few minor injuries and was OK to go home.”
“The second horse was loaded onto the box and taken home while a second wagon was used to remove the now-deceased horse.”
“This was a sad outcome to the day for this group of riders who were visibly upset with their loss.”
Pictured: The scenes on Brean beach on Monday afternoon (photo: Burnham Coastguard)
