Horse dies month after he got impaled on fence when fireworks spooked him

A horse has died after it became impaled on a fence when it ran in terror from two fireworks that were set off in its field.

Owner Laura Roberts, 28, has been left devastated by the death of her six-year-old Irish sports horse Harry after he died on Wednesday.

A petrified Harry was found over the fence with a post buried 10 inches into his back left thigh, by Livery Yard staff in Holywell, North Wales, on Bonfire Night weekend.

But after a five-hour rescue mission to get Harry to stand back up after he laid down yesterday, heartbroken Laura was forced to put him to sleep.

She is now calling for a total ban on firework sales to the public to prevent more animal deaths.

Laura said: ‘Harry had been doing really well, the vets had been doing a fantastic job and he was getting more comfortable walking around but on Wednesday he laid down and he just couldn’t get back up.

Advertisement Advertisement

Warning: Distressing images.

‘We tried to help him for five hours straight but every time he tried to move, he was just making more of a mess of his leg and was clearly in pain.

‘It was like he knew it was time to give up and just couldn’t fight anymore so we decided that it wasn’t fair to put him through any more pain.

‘He’s just so young, it’s hard to accept that all this could have been avoided if someone hadn’t let off those fireworks.

‘The only silver lining in this will be if we can help to ban the sale of fireworks to the public and protect other animals like Harry.’

Livery Yard left lights on in the stables with a radio playing until 11.30pm to mitigate the terrifying effect of any fireworks on the horses.

But yard owner, Lily Roberts, 25, claims two fireworks were so loud they ‘shook the house’ when they went off at around midnight on November 2.

She discovered the horse the next morning impaled on the fence with injuries ‘worse than any horror movie’ after he tried to jump a hedge.

He had a 10-inch wound which stretched the whole way around the inside of his back leg, narrowly missing his femoral artery.

Lily said: ‘Usually I’m very good in horrible situations and know the answer to everything, but I didn’t know what to do or say.

Advertisement Advertisement

‘Harry was shaking and petrified I was going to leave him. I phoned 999 as I didn’t know what to do.

‘After cutting away the remainder of the hedge we then could see the extent of Harry’s injuries but I had never seen anything like it, not even in a horror film.’

Heartbroken Laura added: ‘Harry was so kind and sensible, he’s not the kind of horse that would bolt over a hedge so he must have been literally petrified by the noise.’

The RSPCA has urged people to consider the effect of fireworks on animals and said Harry’s fate was a distressing example of the effects they can have.

RSPCA inspector Jenny Anderton said: ‘Harry must have been laying there all night and it took us until 1pm to get him out, get him up and get him on a wagon for the vets to attempt surgery on his very serious wounds.

‘It’s just so sad to think how frightened he must have been and then in so much distress while he was impaled.

‘This incident really does show what the effects of fireworks can be and we urge people to be mindful of the animals around them when setting fireworks off.’

Got a story for Metro.co.uk?

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.