Teenage rider loses horse Benny in crash on Wiltshire village lane

Tinks Walker, a 17-year-old rider, was walking two horses along a lane near Malmesbury in Wiltshire on April 2 when a car hit her and Benny.

Walker said she had moved the horses onto the grass verge before the collision.

She was thrown through the car’s windscreen and later woke on the ground.

Benny, a 10-year-old eventing horse, was so badly injured that a vet put him down at the scene.

He had competed at four-star level and had previously been ridden by Olympic champion Laura Collett.

Walker had been training with Benny and hoped to compete for Great Britain at next year’s European Championships for Young Riders.

Wiltshire Police decided not to prosecute the driver, although they concluded there was sufficient evidence, and Walker’s family has begun legal proceedings over her injuries and Benny’s value.