Balloon Fiesta Bosses deny they are responsible for horse’s death
AHEARTBROKEN former horse owner blames the Bristol Balloon Fiesta for its injury and subsequent death.
Andrea Cox said she was forced to have Dav put down 18 months after he was hurt while spooked by balloons flying overhead.
Dav was one of several horses being stabled on Ram Hill in Coalpit Heath, near Bristol, in August 2021.
Due to Covid, rather than have the traditional four-day event at Ashton Court, fiesta organisers staged a series of events, over the first two weeks, including ‘mass ascents’ across the city. Andrea believes the volume of the balloons used in one of these was what caused him to try and escape his paddock.
Recalling the morning it happened, Andrea said she was phoned by a friend who told her the horses in the field were traumatised by the balloons.
“I got there as soon as I could. The balloons were still around in the sky, and we concentrated on calming the horses down and getting them indoors. Dav was clearly injured,” said Andrea.
The injury ended his dressage career so a new role as a hacking horse was found for him last year.
“Even that wasn’t to be,” Andrea said. “It got worse and worse, and he couldn’t even do that. It was no life for him not being able to walk or run properly, so we have had to put him to sleep. It’s heartbreaking.
He was a stunning horse, I’ve had him 13 years and he was 17. I would have expected him to live well into his 20s,” she added.
Andrea’s attempts to take legal action against the Balloon Fiesta, or claim on its insurance have been rebuffed and rejected for two reasons. Firstly, there was no evidence the balloons were flying too low over the paddock, and secondly, the area where the horses kept had not been designated a no-low-fly zone.
Faced with the costs of all the bills and losing Dav, Andrea said she is in no position to pay to take costly legal action against the balloon fiesta to challenge its position. “I’m so out of pocket, I can’t even afford another horse,” she said.
A spokesperson for the balloon fiesta said everyone involved was sorry to hear about Dav’s passing and the distress this had caused.
They added: “In 2021 the fiesta could not take place because of the pandemic restrictions, but a number of flights did take place from a variety of a wide variety of locations across the city.
“All hot air balloons have a legal duty to carry appropriate and adequate insurance, and the fiesta identified and passed on the details of the hot air balloons it had identified as being near the location on the day in question to the owner. Unfortunately, the insurance companies of these balloons did not accept liability.
“Following this, the fiesta passed the claim on to its own insurers, who subsequently appointed a loss adjuster to independently consider the claim.”