A HEARTBROKEN horserider has issued a warning to motorists after a “nightmare” encounter with a van left her injured and her horse dead.

Nineteen-year-old Lorna Madden was riding in Queensbury when a white van clipped her stirrup, causing her horse to bolt and then slip, falling on top of her before bolting again in a panic.

Miss Madden’s badly-cracked riding hat saved her life but she was left with a broken elbow and a host of other injuries.

Her horse, 10-year-old bay mare Rita, underwent intensive veterinary treatment but died later that week.

Miss Madden, who produces, breaks, competes, schools and sells horses for a living, described the experience as a “living nightmare” and urged motorists to slow down and take extra care when passing horses.

She said drivers passed her either too close or too fast “pretty much every day”.

She said: “Please give a car’s width and slow down to approximately 15 miles an hour. Drivers are meant to give 1.5m but very rarely give that, ever.”

Miss Madden had only bought Rita, a Dutch warmblood valued at around £16,000, a month before with co-owners Bob and Vivienne Holt.

She described her as a “very honest, genuine and straightforward mare” coming into her peak and with all the bloodlines to be a top horse.

Miss Madden and Rita had been riding along Windy Bank Lane on August 7 when she said a white van being driven too fast clipped her stirrup.

She said: “Rita bolted for about three-quarters of a mile down a steep hill. As the camber of the road changed, her legs went under her and we both slipped across the road with her landing on me and dragging me down the road.

“With my feet still in the stirrups, she went again but soon stopped when she realised she was dragging me.

“Once my feet released and dropped out she went again in panic until she was caught on an industrial estate.”

Miss Madden, who lives with partner Luke and five-month-old baby Tommy in Boothtown, Halifax, thanked workers at Thornton Breakers for catching Rita and calling a vet, but in the days that followed, the horse’s injuries proved unsurvivable.

Miss Madden said: “I’m doing okay but I’m heartbroken and devastated to lose Rita. It’s left me feeling pretty useless that we couldn’t do more for her.

“Another thing I’m finding hard is the fact that I can’t do much for my five-month-old son but my partner Luke has been great throughout.

“I have a broken elbow, ligament and tendon damage to my left arm and bad bruising on my stomach. I also would like to thank my Gatehouse hat for saving my life that day.

“It cracked but that could have been my skull.

“I know I’m lucky to walk out of this alive.”

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The police are investigating the incident and have asked for any witnesses to come forward.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or the circumstances prior to it is asked to contact the Safer Roads and Neighbourhood Support team on 101, quoting reference number 13170363526.