WEST Dorset riders want to warn others about the danger of overgrown bridleways after a woman ended up in hospital and a horse collapsed.

Charlotte Hewlett and her friend Bex Perkins were riding along a narrow bridleway past Horse Hill Farm in Stoke Abbot early last Tuesday when disaster struck.

They had ridden a way down a long narrow track before they realised how overgrown it was but by then it was too late and too narrow to turn their two big horses - already in a state of shock - around.

Charlotte said: “We couldn’t turn around and we where trapped in the over growth with two big horses getting attacked by stinging nettles.

“The horses were panicking as we where fighting our way through the bridle path.

“We decided to get off and help them try to break through but the horses panicked even more and trampled over the top of us to try and run away from the stings.

“We got out of the track and my horse collapsed several times falling over in the track.

“She then collapsed in a gateway and was giving up.”

Charlotte called Dorset Equine in Dorchester and despite vague directions vet Graham Sherwin was on the scene in 50 minutes.

Charlotte said: “My horse would be dead without him. With the quick response from my vet at Dorset equine he managed to asses the situation.

“Maggie was pumped full of drugs and morphine to try and get her to respond but it wasn’t looking good.

“She was flat on her side for around an hour until the drugs started to work.

“I want people to be aware of this.

“We get moaned at for being on the roads and in the way of traffic but we can’t access the bridleways as they are just so overgrown and problems and outcomes occur like this.

“My friend ended up in A and E after being trampled so she will never forget this experience.

Vet Mr Sherwin said the horse had gone into anaphylactic shock after exposure to a very large patch of nettles.

He said: “If they could have turned round and gone a different way they would have done. Avoidance is the main key if possible but it does have to be pretty extreme for this to happen.

Bridport and Lyme Regis News:

Nellie George from Elwell Farm where Maggie is kept, helping vet Graham Sherwin

“The girls were saying they were being stung when they were on top of the horse so it was a big patch of nettles.

“If you were cantering through a meadow and there was a small patch of nettles in the middle it wouldn’t be like this. It was a prolonged exposure and over quite a large area of the body, so it was quite a big dose that they got.

“If adverse things happen principles of first aid make sure there is only one casualty if you have a 550 kilo animal dropping down try not to get injured yourself.”

Charlotte said: “I just wanted to make sure everybody else was aware this could happen.”

Maggie, a nine-year-old thoroughbred is still being treated by the vet for her injuries.