Two horses seen bolting through London are in ‘serious condition’
Two military horses seriously injured after running loose through London on Wednesday have undergone operations, the Army has said.
James Cartlidge, a defence minister, had said earlier that the animals were in a “serious condition”.
Seven horses were scared by builders moving rubble and four of them – Vida, Trojan, Quaker and Tennyson – broke free and ran loose. A fifth also tried to bolt.
Vida was the grey horse seen in videos and images galloping through central London covered in blood, alongside Quaker, a black horse.
Three soldiers were hurt, but the Army said yesterday that they would “recover fully and return to duty”, adding: “Our horses receive the highest standards of care, and those that did not undergo surgery are expected to return to duty in due course.”
It is “too early to know” if the most seriously hurt horses will be able to return to service with the military.
Mr Cartlidge had earlier said on Sky News: “There were five horses. They have all been recovered. Three of them are fine, two of them are unfortunately in a relatively serious condition and obviously we will be monitoring that condition.” He described what happened as exceptional, and said the Army has 150 horses exercising every day in central London.
Kelly Ude-Martinez, of The Knights of Middle England, which specialises in equine displays and stunt shows, said:“You can never have a horse that you can 100 per cent guarantee is going to respond in a certain way in a certain situation because, at the end of the day, they are animals.
“The level of training that police and military horses have is significant for them to be able to complete their duties and do the role that they do, so for what happened yesterday to have happened will have been a very out-of-theordinary situation.”
Household Cavalry horses are typically trained from a very young age, she said, and are carefully habituated to noises.
But, she added: “You can teach them how to stay relaxed in unfamiliar situations, but you’re never going to be able to train a horse not to bolt. You can never guarantee that there’s not a situation where the horse’s fear and their fight-or-flight instinct doesn’t take over, because they are a prey animal.”