Plea to drivers over horse safety on roads

A horse rider said he almost lost his love of riding after his horse was struck by a car while he was on her.

Ben Cottrell, from Mow Cop, on the Staffordshire/Cheshire border, was on Ruby when he said a car hit her and drove off.

"You think, 'could it happen again?' They know when something's up, it just sort of took the fun out of it for a while," he said.

Three horses were killed out of 270 road incidents involving horses in the West Midlands in 2023, figures from the British Horse Society (BHS) revealed.

Eighty-one took place in Staffordshire, 61 in Shropshire and 59 in Warwickshire, the BHS said.

There were 55 in Worcestershire, nine in the West Midlands and five in Herefordshire.

The organisation said it feared a large number of drivers might still be unaware of changes to guidance from Highway Code introduced in 2022.

They gave horse riders greater priorities on the road and said vehicles should give at least 2m (6ft 7in) space when overtaking horses.

When Ruby was hit by the car, Mr Cottrell said he was left in the middle of the road not knowing how seriously injured she was.

"I had no idea if she had a broken leg, anything could have happened to her, I didn't know," he said.

Both are now OK and have managed to ride out since, he added.

Emily Beaty, from Moor Farm Stables in Corley Moor, near Coventry, said heading out on local roads could still be a challenge for horse riders.

"A lot of the off-road riding we do have, it is only accessible via a main road," she said.

"There have been incidents over the years, I feel very fortunate that it's never been any sort of serious incident."

Alan Hiscox, from the BHS, said he felt there was a lack of understanding from drivers about horse riders being on roads as "we can't ride elsewhere".

"It's also about a mutual respect with horse riders towards drivers but also drivers towards horse riders," he added.

Motorists and riders have been urged to report any incidents on roads involving horses to the BHS so it can get a full picture of the issue.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]