Groom sues for £100,000 after being crushed by horse on duke’s fox hunt
A RIDER who says she was crushed by a “naughty” horse during a Duke of Beaufort fox hunt is suing for £100,000 over her injuries.
Lisa Ford suffered multiple fractures when her mount reared up and fell backwards.
She was riding with the historic hunt on the Duke’s 52,000-acre Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire. Ms Ford, 41, a groom, is suing her former boss, businessman Jonathan Seymour-Williams, 65, as the keeper of the horse.
She claims the horse, an experienced hunter named Tommy which Ms Ford cared for and rode, reared up because he was “a hot horse” who was “being naughty”.
Ms Ford says Mr Seymour-Williams must pay damages as she was riding after being asked by his son Roddy to prepare the horse for him to hunt the following week.
But Mr Seymour-Williams is refusing to pay her a penny.
He says Tommy was not being “naughty” and insists Ms Ford was riding with the hunt “for fun... on a frolic of her own” and not as part of her job.
Judge Michael Kent QC at the High Court heard that Ms Ford, of Badminton, broke her pelvis in five places and suffered a fractured left hip socket, internal bleeding and nerve damage, as well as a psychiatric injury in September 2018.
After falling on Ms Ford, Tommy thrashed around before dying, pinning her to the ground. She remained under the dead horse until an air ambulance arrived.
Giles Mooney QC, for Ms Ford, told the judge she is suing under the Animals Act 1971, claiming that Tommy was either “disobedient” or was “undergoing a catastrophic internal injury” which led to the fall and his death.
Georgina Crawford, for Mr Seymour-Williams, is arguing that if the horse keeled over because it was ill and dying, that was “just bad luck”. Mr Mooney told the judge: “That is the key battleground between us.” He said the other main issue is “who was really responsible for Tommy and what was Ms Ford doing riding him?” The hearing continues.