A PONY being ridden by a 10-year-old girl had to be put down in the road after it was hit by a car.

A husband, wife and their two young daughters were taking two ponies for a ride when the vehicle car ‘careered around a corner and crashed into one of the ponies, shattering its leg’ on a lane near Malborough, between Salcombe and Kingsbridge

The girl’s grandfather, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘They heard the car racing, but there was no room for them to move out of the way. The car hit the bank and went onto its side – skidding about 40ft into the pony, which fell to its knees, and my granddaughter stepped off.

‘The pony’s back left leg was shattered, with a compound fracture, and it had to be put down then and there in the road.’

The family are now hoping to highlight the dangers of speeding on country lanes. They called the police at the time of the accident but the police did not attend because nobody was injured.

A Kingsbridge police spokesman said they received a call but didn’t attend the scene because ‘no humans were injured and the road wasn’t blocked’.

However, police recorded the accident as a ‘road collision’ and later breathalysed the driver at his home, testing him as negative.

The family said that initially the driver was quite defensive but when it dawned him what had happened he was very apologetic.

‘We just want to get the message through to people to drive carefully on the roads,’ the grandfather added.

Last year, we reported about a campaign and petition to draw attention to the safety of horses and riders on our roads.

A local equestrian centre said it has stopped offering ‘hacking’ – riding out into the countryside – because of the dangers of novice riders being paired with ‘aggressive’ drivers.

Alex Farleigh, from Dittiscombe Equestrian Centre, said this week: ‘A pony is part of the family, and it’s so horrible for the family to have had to see that.

‘Like everything in life, the majority of drivers are fine, it’s just the handful who either have lack of knowledge, are driving too fast, not concentrating or just don’t give a damn.

‘It’s becoming a bit of a nightmare. I rode my mare this morning, and there was only one out of 15 drivers who could have behaved better, but some days, some people are unbelievably silly. And, of course, some horsey people don’t say thank you to drivers.

‘We wear high-visibility jackets saying ‘please pass wide and slow’ – but some holidaymakers prefer to drive closer to the horse than the hedge. Drivers should be three metres away from riders, the same as when passing cyclists.

‘All of our horses are good in traffic, but if you have a pheasant flying out of hedge or even a sweet wrapper blowing about, they can “spook” and jump across the road, and suddenly you’ve got three tonnes of horse sitting on somebody’s car.

Alex added: ‘You have some people who are anti horses on the road, but the horses were here before cars. It’s a shame, the lanes around us are busier and it’s harder to take less experienced riders out.

‘We always try to get out of the way when we hear a car coming, but it’s only a matter of time before somebody gets hit – we’ve had a few narrow misses but no collisions yet. I’ve met a few people over the years who have had some terrible experiences.

‘There was a programme about raising awareness of cyclists on our roads, but there really needs to be a similar programme about riders.

‘I can see both sides of the story but at the end of the day, it’s a few seconds out of your time, and it could be the difference between saving someone’s life or taking someone’s life.’

Nobody from South Moor Vets, which put down the pony, was available for comment at the time of going to press.