Box_Of_Frogs
Well-Known Member
I'm just passing this message on as local riders/riding schools are trying to cascade the information asap. Last week there were 2 separate incidents where young teenagers were hacking alone (Swansea/Morriston area). In both incidents a white van with 2 men inside with ? Irish accents tried to stop the rider and grab their horse. In the first incident, the rider was stopped by the men but when they tried to grab her horse, but she managed to trot on and was ok. In the second incident, the two men stopped the rider and were talking to her when one of them grabbed her horse by the bridle. Luckily the rider was so frightened that she frightened her horse too and it shot off with her still on board. Both incidents have been reported to the police though I don't have an incident number. Whether the horses were the target or the girls, nobody knows. Whether they just happened to be in this area and are travelling around, nobody knows either. Just an alert for lone teenage riders (or anyone really) to be hyper alert and, as your mum would have told you, don't ever stop to talk to strangers
As it happens, the pony had been previously abused and was wary of men, so did a semi-rear and the guy let go. Luckily, I was on a 12.2 scurry pony that had very sharp reaction times and quite a turn of speed, so we ran away very quickly! I didn't react at first as the guy seemed quite friendly and looked as if he was going to ask me something. Nowadays I don't let anyone (apart from the odd few kids) come anywhere near a horse I'm on.