Horses Running Free in Central London

[Melontree]

I just saw this breaking piece. One of the horses is bleeding/has blood on it. They're both saddled and bridled - I can't imagine what's happened here. I'm sure there'll be an explanation at some point, but I truly hope the horses and riders are okay.

Anyone in the area seen/heard anything?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/24/horses-on-loose-central-london

That's awful. They must be terrified

They’re Household Cavalry horses who’ve been spooked while exercising and thrown their riders. A serivceman has been hurt, one of the horses has collided with a bus and another with a car. There was/is 5 on the loose.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-london-68888725

As a horse person, gosh, that fills me with the fear. I suspect someone had a fall and the other got off to help them and something spooked them (or intentionally if someone was being an asshole). It's odd that they can't find them though because you can't miss two horses in an urban area easily, though I suspect the police chasing them is not helping. Hopefully they can get a mounted officer with some experience on the scene to help.

Five of them! Blimey. Thanks for the updates - poor things. I hope they're okay, and the people involved, obviously.

Poor things. I’ve had to catch runaway horses before and it’s very difficult if they’ve got the wind up them and there’s so much going on in the area like traffic and probably people making a grab for the reins.

Poor things - hope all horses and people involved are OK.

I read this story just now, as a horse owner it is your worst nightmare. That is an awful lot of blood on the grey horse. They don't spook easily so god knows what happened to make them. Poor horses and riders, truly awful experience.

This is awful. I hope they manage to catch the horses soon and that the rider who was thrown isn't too badly injured. There's a lot of blood on that grey 😥

My immediate concern, especially as the mum of a soldier, is something sinister happened here. They’re Household Cavalry horses, they’re used to noises, being in crowds etc, so what happened today? Soldiers don’t leave their horses so they can run through London, it just wouldn’t happen.

Oh, household cavalry horses would have an extremely high spook threshold. How sad. Can't see this having a happy ending.

The two horses have been caught now apparently.

Hope the soldier is ok and all horses, especially the one with blood on it.

The BBC news channel newsreader was smiling like it was some kind of light hearted joke! Said something about it being 'a bit frightening'. Bloody horribly frightening for the horses. Arsehole! He didn't even seem to clock the blood.
That footage of them, poor things, encountering traffic and trying to get through. My sympathies are entirely with the horses, and any rider who has been injured.

Poor things. 5 miles... they must have been terrified to just keep going like that.

Hope the 4 people injured are okay well.

From the BBC incident page. Sounds the the blood is the horse's blood. Poor thing I hope it's ok but it must be quite an injury to bleed that much and it must have been so frightened.

Speaking to BBC Radio London earlier, Sean - a black cab driver in Blackfriars - described seeing three horses gallop towards Buckingham Palace.
"It sounded like a car crash, one was possible injured," he said. "Maybe that is why there are only two being seen.
"I pulled out of Buckingham Palace Road, there one of the riders was on the road on his back being tended to.
"There was a Mercedes Vito parked outside the Grosvenor Hotel with its side smashed in and covered in blood.
"All the windows were smashed so I am guessing the white horse has hit that running into it."

Just read this on the news and as a horse owner filled me with dread, those poor horses…

Despite being a lot of blood on the grey he’s obviously up and moving ok however I know only too well how much adrenaline can mask injury in animals.

I’ll be following and really hoping for a positive outcome.

These horses are carefully chosen for temperament and highly trained so goodness knows what would be that alarming to spook them . Hope everyone and horses are safe although I read a soldier took a nasty tumble .

Oh no that's scary. Poor horses & riders. Really hope they are Okay.

Just read this, it’s very near my office though I’m not there today. I’m quite scared of horses but this must have been terrifying for them and everyone who witnessed it, all that blood as well. Hope the horses and the injured rider (as well as drivers of the damaged vehicles) are ok.

Using horses in this way in the middle of London seems very unnecessary in this day and age.

SKY reporting that all people and horses are accounted for, and that those which need it are receiving appropriate medical care (whether from vet or doctor)

I suspect the grey horse's injuries were not as bad as it looked - a bolting horse will sweat and even a small amount of blood can cover a lot of horse and on that colour it would show up dramatically. It looked to be moving OK, which is a good indicator.

What's staggering is how far they crossed London before running out of steam - all the way from somewhere neat Hyde Park to Limehouse!

It looked lame on the clip I saw. And that’s a lot of blood even taking into consideration that its blood was pumping and it’s grey.

But good that they’re all safely rounded up and can be treated.

These were some of the pics from Facebook. It looks quite scary. And some ran five miles before they were caught. Poor things. I am torn over how I feel nowadays. I love seeing them, but I wouldn’t want my horse to have their lives.