Horse cable electrocution probed

Tina Brown and Merlin competed in the Yorkshire Show

A horse has been electrocuted by a damaged electricity cable whilst being ridden by its owner on a pavement in West Yorkshire.

Tina Brown was riding 11-year-old Merlin on Station Lane in East Ardsley when he fell to the ground.

A friend who came to help tried to remove his bridle when she realised he was being electrocuted.

It is thought a damaged cable had made part of the road live. The Health and Safety Executive is investigating.

Ms Brown, who runs the nearby Foxholes Animal Hotel, said: "All of a sudden he started groaning and his legs buckled from underneath him and he just dropped to the ground and lay there and started screaming.

As I touched the bit to pull his bridle down to take some pressure off his mouth it blew me on to my back Charlene Hill

"It was absolutely horrendous, I've never heard a horse make a noise like that."

Her friend Charlene Hill came to help and when she tried to remove Merlin's bridle she was hit by the force of the electric shock.

"As I touched the bit to pull his bridle down to take some pressure off his mouth it blew me on to my back," she said.

"I got back up but I still had to pull the bridle off because it was burning his mouth so I had to take it from the top where the leather was but every time I touched the horse I was getting shocks."

Leeds City Council confirmed that highways improvement work had been taking place in the area and said they were looking into what happened as a matter of urgency.