Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Brave girl halts runaway horse
Exclusive
A Canterbury schoolgirl has described the moment she stopped a runaway horse as it charged around a busy car park.
Victoria Leidig, 13, of The Street, Adisham, was watching horse racing with her parents and younger sister on Monday when a horse bolted into an area where families were enjoying picnics and vehicles were manoeuvring.
The nine-year-old grey gelding, called Nemo Spirit, cut his leg badly after kicking and smashing a car window, and only calmed down when the youngster approached him at Aldington Point to Point, near Ashford,
Victoria, who has been riding horses for three years at Bekesbourne Stables near Canterbury, said: “There were hundreds of cars in the car park. There were children and dogs sitting on blankets. The horse was running between the people and the vehicles.
“There were lots of people sitting between the rows of cars. They were all getting up and running to the side. People were panicking.
“There was one car that was just leaving and I think the horse thought it was going one way so tried to avoid it but the vehicle turned and went the other way.
“The horse jumped up on to the car and knocked its front leg. It looked like it was broken. It cut its back leg as well, it was bleeding a lot.”
The 5ft 5in teenager continued: “I walked forward and grabbed the reins. I didn’t want it killing anyone. I could see in its eyes it was scared. The horse looked a bit calmer when I took hold of it.
“I wasn’t frightened of the horse, I was scared for its safety. I would say the horse was about 16.2 hands, which is quite big.
“All the vets came running over and people were pressing towels on its wounded leg. Then they put screens up and I don’t know what happened after that.
“I don’t feel like a hero, I just took hold of the horse because it looked like it was thinking about running off again.”
Victoria, a pupil at Simon Lang- ton Girls’ Grammar School, believes jockey Joshua Pearce fell when the horse stumbled going over a jump.
After completing the race ahead of the other animals and their riders, the horse changed direction and ran back along the track before dashing into the car park.
Victoria’s dad David Leidig said: “I am very proud of her. There were hundreds of people in that car park and what Victoria did was stop anybody getting injured.
“The four people in the Golf car were pretty shaken up but no one was hurt. I heard a noise and looked up and the horse was thundering through the car park. It hit the car and shot up into the air then fell onto its back.
“The horse got up but seemed very dodgy on one of its front legs.
“My daughter ran forward and took its reins. She’s not a very big person. The horse stopped still and she held it until some men arrived.”
Secretary of event organisers East Kent Hunt, Ian Gibson, revealed horse and rider were recovering well and thanked Victoria for her efforts. He said: “We had a great day of racing but there was an incident with a runaway horse. The jockey is fine and we expect the horse to make a full recovery. He hasn’t got a broken leg.
“He had a cut, which was dealt with by the vets. The horse ate well when he went home after the race.
“Obviously we are always grateful to members of the public who prevent people or animals getting hurt. I would like to thank Victoria and reassure her that everyone is OK.”