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'Dog could have killed my horse'
A WOMAN fears her thoroughbred horse could have died following a "frenzied" dog attack in a field.
Christine Brophy is now urging dog owners to keep their pets on a lead around horses after she was thrown from her beloved horse Christian when it was attacked by a dog.
The nine-year-old horse was so startled it bolted and headed off towards the busy A179 near Hart village, Hartlepool, during rush hour.
Christine, from Hartlepool, said: "I saw him disappearing and thought 'he's going to get killed or kill somebody'.
"I was waiting to hear the thud of a car."
The 28-year-old, who works as a nurse at the University of Hartlepool, said she has had to pay 300 in vet's bills since the attack in the field off the A179 opposite Hart village and near to Butts Lane.
She said: "We saw this dog running through the crops towards us. Its owner was shouting for it. We thought it would stop. It just didn't.
"It jumped straight at Christian's shoulders and kept going for a matter of minutes, but it felt like hours. I was flying all over. The horse was going wild.
He was leaping through the air like a bronco. It was a frenzied attack. It was trying to bring the horse down. A decent bite off a dog through a tendon and a horse will have to be shot."
Christine, due to get married to Martin Bruce, 32, who co-owns BC Engineering in the Sandgate Industrial Estate in Hartlepool, was with
John Littlefair, who owns the farm where she keeps Christian.
She said Mr Littlefair tried to run at the dog with his horse, and
Christian even stood on the dog, but it persisted. Christine said she hurt her foot, leg and back and the horse has bites on its legs and side.
She said the dog owner did stop to see if Christine was all right.
But Christine, of Swallow Close in Bishop Cuthbert, Hartlepool, said: "Now I'm really worried for anybody else.
"I can't believe people don't realise dogs can attack horses.
"It should have been on a lead."
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said the incident, at around 5.30pm on April 22, was reported, but there would be no further action against the dog's owner.
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Weather for Hartlepool
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
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