Couple flee after pets cause woman to fall from horse

Injured 23-year-old airlifted to hospital after family dogs frighten mount

A “callous” couple left a rider lying in agony after their dogs caused her horse to throw her off and bolt towards a main road in Fife.

The badly injured horsewoman, who is understood to be 23 years old, had to phone an ambulance herself after the pair, with two children and two dogs, walked off without checking if she was all right.

Medics discovered she had two broken bones in a leg and had to give her gas and air at the scene, near Upper Largo, before she was airlifted to Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.

She has since had to undergo an operation to repair the damaged bones and remains in hospital.

Louise Docherty, who runs Largo Law Livery where the injured woman stables her horse, said she was disgusted by the actions of the people who left her shouting for help on Tuesday afternoon.

“She was lying there and they turned round and walked the other way,” she said.

“We’ve no idea who the people were but it’s obviously someone pretty callous.”

Louise said the entire community was horrified by the incident.

“It was horrendous and very traumatic for her,” she said.

Louise often rides with the injured woman, who is from Leven, and described her as a very able horsewoman.

“She’s very experienced and knows her horse inside out, so something pretty serious must have happened for her to fall off it,” she said.

Louise rushed from the livery to the scene of the accident at Buckthorn Farm as soon as she heard about it.

“She had phoned the ambulance and then phoned a girl she knew at the stable to ask her to pick up the horse,” she said.

“She was worried it was heading for the main road, which it was.

“We got it and gave it a good look over and it appeared to be fine, but the poor girl was being given gas and air and was in terrible agony.”

Louise said she received a text from the injured woman before her operation to say she had a broken tibia and fibula.

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We received a call on Tuesday at 15.46 hours to attend an incident in Upper Largo.

“We airlifted one female patient in her 20s to Ninewells.”

Police confirmed they were aware of the incident.

Paramedics attend the injured woman at the scene of the incident in Upper Largo.