Anyone know what happened?

[SilverLinings]

Indeed. I’m fairly sure horses drowned in Hyde Park after carriage incidents in the early 19th cen.

I was aware of the same story but had only heard it verbally from an elderly carriage driver and wasn't sure whether it was apocryphal. A quick Google found this though (it includes other horse-related incidents in Hyde Park):

Rotten Row Accidents in Hyde Park in the 1800s - geriwalton.com

By the 1800s Rotten Row was a well-established spot and because of its popularity there were plenty of horse related accidents reported. Among them were

www.geriwalton.com

There were a huge number of accidents involving horses in London and other cities, both before and after the introduction of the motor vehicle; there are debates on Hansard about the problem ~100-150yrs ago.

 

[Pebble101]

Yes, it might need people to give up riding if people haven’t got access to off road riding.

Still doesn’t make it right or safe to take horses out on the road, though…

It only happens now because of historical reasons, but modern roads and modern sensibilities are a very different entity now to years ago.

I used to pay for toll rides, they have now been closed. As have quite a lot of permissive routes owned by the NT and Surrey Wildlife Trust. Over half of the bridleways we had when I first moved here are no more. And the bridleways we do have come out on major A roads. Quite how we are supposed to do anything if we don't want to go round and round in a school and without usining roads, I have no idea.

 

[DabDab]

On the contrary, it is not ignoring it, it is a pointer to times ahead.

All those who are squeaking in indignation at your sport being threatened and defending horses in central London had better be very afraid. That is the future staring you in the face.

Tradishun won’t cut it.

Hacking on the roads is crazy anyway. People do it because they’ve always done it, but the briefest of risk assessments shows that horses and traffic don’t mix.

The briefest of risk assessments would indicate that driving cars on roads isn't safe. Let's not even start on motorbikes. And cyclists

 

[Tiddlypom]

But humans are knowingly taking on those risks themselves.

Very different to taking an animal out to face those risks.

If I had been going past that building in a quiet side road in Belgravia, and workmen had suddenly posted a load of concrete down a chute form a height, I’d have jumped out of my skin, but I wouldn’t have bolted 5 miles through London.

 

[Goldenstar]

The two running reminded me of accounts of the Peninsula War and the bloodied horses running back to the lines .
At at least these horses will have modern veterinary care and careful ongoing management .
Spare a thought for the army horses of old .

It’s a terrible thing I hope the MOP who where hurt are not badly damaged .
That soldiers have not life changing injuries
The vehicles will fix or be replaced .

 

[Goldenstar]

I hack on the road daily and will continue to do so .

 

[Fellewell]

The rider of the grey, Vida, has posted online that he is in surgery having some deep cuts stitched but is expected to recover. All the others are ok too apparently.

Thank you so much for posting this. I'm so glad they are all ok. This reminded me of our late Queen and Burmese when as the consummate horsewoman she was, her first thought was to steady her horse. I do think those builders could/should have waited.

 

[Goldenstar]

Thank you so much for posting this. I'm so glad they are all ok. This reminded me of our late Queen and Burmese when as the consummate horsewoman she was, her first thought was to steady her horse. I do think those builders could/should have waited.

They might not have seen .

 

[FenrisW]

From October 2022.

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/london-household-cavalry-traffic-horses-b2200206.html

 

[Miss_Millie]

This incident has been on my mind all day, have been trying to put into words how it has made me feel.

The image of these beautiful, scared and injured animals running through a concrete jungle, so far from nature and serenity stirred something visceral in me...it was a bigger-picture gut punch of - we put these animals here. Not just in this situation but so many situations, for the purpose of our pleasure, vanity, ego. Never for the animal or for their wellbeing.

We are indeed living in different times now, and I think it's right to question what is fair and acceptable in our increasingly overpopulated world - especially the UK which is jam-packed.

I'm not making any blanket statements here like x y or z should be banned, just ruminating on the feeling that it's unfair what we expect of these animals sometimes, especially within some contexts where it actually seems needless to put horses in certain scenarios - makes you question their quality of life in the bigger picture of things. Was having similar thoughts about top-end dressage horses who are put under so much pressure for human ambition, so many forget that they are just animals who want to enjoy their lives in peace.

On the note of overpopulation, I would so love to go back to a time when there were far less people and you could actually ride out in open countryside without needing to worry about dangerous drivers.

 

[Snowfilly]

The two running reminded me of accounts of the Peninsula War and the bloodied horses running back to the lines .
At at least these horses will have modern veterinary care and careful ongoing management .
Spare a thought for the army horses of old .

It’s a terrible thing I hope the MOP who where hurt are not badly damaged .
That soldiers have not life changing injuries
The vehicles will fix or be replaced .

There was something visceral about that picture, wasn’t there? There’s very few alive who have seen war horses injured in duty (aside from Hyde Park) and it felt like something out of the far past. Change the background and that could have been any of our army horses through the centuries.

What a thing we have asked of them all these centuries.

 

[DabDab]

But humans are knowingly taking on those risks themselves.

Very different to taking an animal out to face those risks.

If I had been going past that building in a quiet side road in Belgravia, and workmen had suddenly posted a load of concrete down a chute form a height, I’d have jumped out of my skin, but I wouldn’t have bolted 5 miles through London.

Do we? Or do we not have a choice?

Before banning more and more things from the hell of tarmac, concrete and machinery that we have created, maybe we could consider the legitimacy of the environment and system that we have created and continue to perpetuate.

 

[HobleytheTB]

Really hope the horses and riders are ok. It will be interesting to see if the horse involved are retired from duty. Seeing the grey covered in blood was really quite upsetting. It's one of my worst fears that I'll come off my horse on a hack and she'll end up on the roads, as we have an a-road to cross from the yard to the heathland.

 

[Snowfilly]

I’ve just spoken with my boy. All the horses (seven bolted) are alive. Three riders are in hospital but not very serious. When the incident happened (during what was just morning exercise) one person from the Royal Mews collected a horse from Victoria and took it back to the mews. The police caught another in Victoria and took it to the mews. My lad set off for the city in pursuit of the grey and black but was called back to the mews to deal with catastrophic bleeding. The police then drove him to Wapping where the grey and black had been caught. There were City of London police and Good Samaritans applying pressure to multiple wounds and a huge quantity of blood was pooling on the ground under the grey but none of the wounds were bleeding that briskly to account for it. The blood was coming from it’s soles. It also has serious chest and groin wounds and it’s numbers and colour are awful but no pedal bone rotation. One horse ended up on a bus by going through the windscreen. All the horses have road and glass contaminated wounds and one has a cheese grated arterial tear. No broken bones detected on X-ray but lots of torn lips and gums and all will need a thorough oral exam tomorrow. He expects they will all colic and the two that bolted to Wapping will probably tie up. He said the Met were magnificent. They provided dozens of personnel and vehicles to clear a path for the horsebox from Wapping to Knightsbridge even helpfully skittling some inconvenient bollards at Whitehall. He doesn’t know why the two that went to Wapping travelled so far. They usually just stop for a munch as soon as they come across a bit of grass. The grey is called Vida and is “a horrible, horrible horse but being quite sweet now.” Three vets are on duty and pizza has thoughtfully been sent.

Oof that’s hard reading.

Please tell your lad there are hundreds of people here cheering his horses well again.

 

[Flame_]

Yes, it might need people to give up riding if people haven’t got access to off road riding.

Still doesn’t make it right or safe to take horses out on the road, though…

It only happens now because of historical reasons, but modern roads and modern sensibilities are a very different entity now to years ago.

I used to hack on bridleways and box my horse to Delamere Forest to get off the roads. Now those options are congested with walkers and cyclists and overrun with muppets with dangerous dogs. I'm starting to prefer lanes tbh and I'm glad I have some private land to hack on.

I hope all involved in this accident are alright.

 

[teapot]

I’ve just spoken with my boy. All the horses (seven bolted) are alive. Three riders are in hospital but not very serious. When the incident happened (during what was just morning exercise) one person from the Royal Mews collected a horse from Victoria and took it back to the mews. The police caught another in Victoria and took it to the mews. My lad set off for the city in pursuit of the grey and black but was called back to the mews to deal with catastrophic bleeding. The police then drove him to Wapping where the grey and black had been caught. There were City of London police and Good Samaritans applying pressure to multiple wounds and a huge quantity of blood was pooling on the ground under the grey but none of the wounds were bleeding that briskly to account for it. The blood was coming from it’s soles. It also has serious chest and groin wounds and it’s numbers and colour are awful but no pedal bone rotation. One horse ended up on a bus by going through the windscreen. All the horses have road and glass contaminated wounds and one has a cheese grated arterial tear. No broken bones detected on X-ray but lots of torn lips and gums and all will need a thorough oral exam tomorrow. He expects they will all colic and the two that bolted to Wapping will probably tie up. He said the Met were magnificent. They provided dozens of personnel and vehicles to clear a path for the horsebox from Wapping to Knightsbridge even helpfully skittling some inconvenient bollards at Whitehall. He doesn’t know why the two that went to Wapping travelled so far. They usually just stop for a munch as soon as they come across a bit of grass. The grey is called Vida and is “a horrible, horrible horse but being quite sweet now.” Three vets are on duty and pizza has thoughtfully been sent.

Glad they're all relatively ok all things considered.

I've seen the video of the one hitting the bus, but it didn't go through the windscreen, thankfully.

 

[palo1]

Do we? Or do we not have a choice?

Before banning more and more things from the hell of tarmac, concrete and machinery that we have created, maybe we could consider the legitimacy of the environment and system that we have created and continue to perpetuate.

Spot on. Thank you for expressing this so eloquently. If we are to rescue ourselves and nature we have to question what we are making and accepting that cannot include it.

 

[SEL]

I’ve just spoken with my boy. All the horses (seven bolted) are alive. Three riders are in hospital but not very serious. When the incident happened (during what was just morning exercise) one person from the Royal Mews collected a horse from Victoria and took it back to the mews. The police caught another in Victoria and took it to the mews. My lad set off for the city in pursuit of the grey and black but was called back to the mews to deal with catastrophic bleeding. The police then drove him to Wapping where the grey and black had been caught. There were City of London police and Good Samaritans applying pressure to multiple wounds and a huge quantity of blood was pooling on the ground under the grey but none of the wounds were bleeding that briskly to account for it. The blood was coming from it’s soles. It also has serious chest and groin wounds and it’s numbers and colour are awful but no pedal bone rotation. One horse ended up on a bus by going through the windscreen. All the horses have road and glass contaminated wounds and one has a cheese grated arterial tear. No broken bones detected on X-ray but lots of torn lips and gums and all will need a thorough oral exam tomorrow. He expects they will all colic and the two that bolted to Wapping will probably tie up. He said the Met were magnificent. They provided dozens of personnel and vehicles to clear a path for the horsebox from Wapping to Knightsbridge even helpfully skittling some inconvenient bollards at Whitehall. He doesn’t know why the two that went to Wapping travelled so far. They usually just stop for a munch as soon as they come across a bit of grass. The grey is called Vida and is “a horrible, horrible horse but being quite sweet now.” Three vets are on duty and pizza has thoughtfully been sent.

That's as rough as I feared - keeping everything crossed they'll all pull through.

 

[Fjord]

I’ve just spoken with my boy. All the horses (seven bolted) are alive. Three riders are in hospital but not very serious. When the incident happened (during what was just morning exercise) one person from the Royal Mews collected a horse from Victoria and took it back to the mews. The police caught another in Victoria and took it to the mews. My lad set off for the city in pursuit of the grey and black but was called back to the mews to deal with catastrophic bleeding. The police then drove him to Wapping where the grey and black had been caught. There were City of London police and Good Samaritans applying pressure to multiple wounds and a huge quantity of blood was pooling on the ground under the grey but none of the wounds were bleeding that briskly to account for it. The blood was coming from it’s soles. It also has serious chest and groin wounds and it’s numbers and colour are awful but no pedal bone rotation. One horse ended up on a bus by going through the windscreen. All the horses have road and glass contaminated wounds and one has a cheese grated arterial tear. No broken bones detected on X-ray but lots of torn lips and gums and all will need a thorough oral exam tomorrow. He expects they will all colic and the two that bolted to Wapping will probably tie up. He said the Met were magnificent. They provided dozens of personnel and vehicles to clear a path for the horsebox from Wapping to Knightsbridge even helpfully skittling some inconvenient bollards at Whitehall. He doesn’t know why the two that went to Wapping travelled so far. They usually just stop for a munch as soon as they come across a bit of grass. The grey is called Vida and is “a horrible, horrible horse but being quite sweet now.” Three vets are on duty and pizza has thoughtfully been sent.

Thank you for the update. It must have been a very distressing day for him.

I really hope all involved are OK.

 

[palo1]

I’ve just spoken with my boy. All the horses (seven bolted) are alive. Three riders are in hospital but not very serious. When the incident happened (during what was just morning exercise) one person from the Royal Mews collected a horse from Victoria and took it back to the mews. The police caught another in Victoria and took it to the mews. My lad set off for the city in pursuit of the grey and black but was called back to the mews to deal with catastrophic bleeding. The police then drove him to Wapping where the grey and black had been caught. There were City of London police and Good Samaritans applying pressure to multiple wounds and a huge quantity of blood was pooling on the ground under the grey but none of the wounds were bleeding that briskly to account for it. The blood was coming from it’s soles. It also has serious chest and groin wounds and it’s numbers and colour are awful but no pedal bone rotation. One horse ended up on a bus by going through the windscreen. All the horses have road and glass contaminated wounds and one has a cheese grated arterial tear. No broken bones detected on X-ray but lots of torn lips and gums and all will need a thorough oral exam tomorrow. He expects they will all colic and the two that bolted to Wapping will probably tie up. He said the Met were magnificent. They provided dozens of personnel and vehicles to clear a path for the horsebox from Wapping to Knightsbridge even helpfully skittling some inconvenient bollards at Whitehall. He doesn’t know why the two that went to Wapping travelled so far. They usually just stop for a munch as soon as they come across a bit of grass. The grey is called Vida and is “a horrible, horrible horse but being quite sweet now.” Three vets are on duty and pizza has thoughtfully been sent.

That sounds like quite a set of injuries to deal with. Poor, poor horses but I am so glad that so many people were trying to help. I hope they all make it. The poor grey horse with bleeding soles too; I can't imagine how painful that must be. Nightmare but thankfully a very unforeseeable incident in terms of seriousness and the number of horses and humans involved. It's also good the vets have pizza to help what will be a stressful and busy time. Wishing all of the injured and shocked ones a safe recovery.

 

[Goldenstar]

Poor horses I hope they all do ok .
It’s down to the vets skills and nature now to do the work .

 

[Kunoichi73]

I’ve just spoken with my boy. All the horses (seven bolted) are alive. Three riders are in hospital but not very serious. When the incident happened (during what was just morning exercise) one person from the Royal Mews collected a horse from Victoria and took it back to the mews. The police caught another in Victoria and took it to the mews. My lad set off for the city in pursuit of the grey and black but was called back to the mews to deal with catastrophic bleeding. The police then drove him to Wapping where the grey and black had been caught. There were City of London police and Good Samaritans applying pressure to multiple wounds and a huge quantity of blood was pooling on the ground under the grey but none of the wounds were bleeding that briskly to account for it. The blood was coming from it’s soles. It also has serious chest and groin wounds and it’s numbers and colour are awful but no pedal bone rotation. One horse ended up on a bus by going through the windscreen. All the horses have road and glass contaminated wounds and one has a cheese grated arterial tear. No broken bones detected on X-ray but lots of torn lips and gums and all will need a thorough oral exam tomorrow. He expects they will all colic and the two that bolted to Wapping will probably tie up. He said the Met were magnificent. They provided dozens of personnel and vehicles to clear a path for the horsebox from Wapping to Knightsbridge even helpfully skittling some inconvenient bollards at Whitehall. He doesn’t know why the two that went to Wapping travelled so far. They usually just stop for a munch as soon as they come across a bit of grass. The grey is called Vida and is “a horrible, horrible horse but being quite sweet now.” Three vets are on duty and pizza has thoughtfully been sent.

Thank you so much for the update. Really hoping all involved recover fully.

 

[criso]

I saw someone had found a shoe on the route so that would have made galloping on the road even worse.

 

[Pebble101]

I’ve just spoken with my boy. All the horses (seven bolted) are alive. Three riders are in hospital but not very serious. When the incident happened (during what was just morning exercise) one person from the Royal Mews collected a horse from Victoria and took it back to the mews. The police caught another in Victoria and took it to the mews. My lad set off for the city in pursuit of the grey and black but was called back to the mews to deal with catastrophic bleeding. The police then drove him to Wapping where the grey and black had been caught. There were City of London police and Good Samaritans applying pressure to multiple wounds and a huge quantity of blood was pooling on the ground under the grey but none of the wounds were bleeding that briskly to account for it. The blood was coming from it’s soles. It also has serious chest and groin wounds and it’s numbers and colour are awful but no pedal bone rotation. One horse ended up on a bus by going through the windscreen. All the horses have road and glass contaminated wounds and one has a cheese grated arterial tear. No broken bones detected on X-ray but lots of torn lips and gums and all will need a thorough oral exam tomorrow. He expects they will all colic and the two that bolted to Wapping will probably tie up. He said the Met were magnificent. They provided dozens of personnel and vehicles to clear a path for the horsebox from Wapping to Knightsbridge even helpfully skittling some inconvenient bollards at Whitehall. He doesn’t know why the two that went to Wapping travelled so far. They usually just stop for a munch as soon as they come across a bit of grass. The grey is called Vida and is “a horrible, horrible horse but being quite sweet now.” Three vets are on duty and pizza has thoughtfully been sent.

Worse than I thought if more than the grey with such awful injuries. Fingers crossed that they recover although not sure they will be any good for such duties in future.

I used to hack on bridleways and box my horse to Delamere Forest to get off the roads. Now those options are congested with walkers and cyclists and overrun with muppets with dangerous dogs. I'm starting to prefer lanes tbh and I'm glad I have some private land to hack on.

I hope all involved in this accident are alright.

We can't even box to places around here as they are putting barriers on car parks which means horse boxes and trailers cannot park in the car parks.

 

[AmyMay]

Oof that’s hard reading.

Please tell your lad there are hundreds of people here cheering his horses well again.

Ditto.

Thanks so much @Quigleyandme for updating us all.

We’re all sending healing vibes to the horses and injured personnel.

 

[SEL]

Worse than I thought if more than the grey with such awful injuries. Fingers crossed that they recover although not sure they will be any good for such duties in future.

We can't even box to places around here as they are putting barriers on car parks which means horse boxes and trailers cannot park in the car parks.

They often bring injured horses up to the Horse's Trust so they may well come to recuperate / retire. I've just seen footage on one of the papers of that poor grey not weight baring on its left hind

We've got the same issue with barriers on car parks - even the one that has all the bridleways coming off it

 

[spotty_pony2]

I hope we don’t have a knee jerk reaction to this. I mean let’s be honest, it’s never happened before or not for a very very long time. I don’t think horses need banning from the roads based on one accident.

Flipping heck I hope not! Else that’s my riding days over as I have to go on the lanes at least to get to the bridleways!

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

Awful thing to happen but sounds like the horses are getting the right care and that video of the people trying to comfort the one horse they caught made me tearful for some reason, it was just lovely they wanted to help and soothe such a distressed animal.

I know BHS is not popular for various reasons but if we're getting into horses shouldn't be on roads then they are surely our biggest ally/representation for horse riders when it comes to retaining and gaining access rights?

 

[equinerebel]

Oh hell. What horrible injuries for the grey. It’s gonna be a very long road to recovery and I wish them all the best. I can’t see that one in particular returning to duty, and if that’s that case, I wish them a comfortable retirement.

 

[Needtoretire]

Oh hell. What horrible injuries for the grey. It’s gonna be a very long road to recovery and I wish them all the best. I can’t see that one in particular returning to duty, and if that’s that case, I wish them a comfortable retirement.

I too hope he will recover, but reading the comment about huge blood loss from his soles is concerning. Absolutely everything crossed the vets can get him through his injuries.