CROWD HORRIFIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 116, 18 May 1936, Page 8

CROWD HORRIFIED.

DRAGGED BY HORSE.

TROOPER BADLY SHAKEN

LEG CAUGHT IN STIRRUP.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

NEW PLYMOUTH, this day.

Almost 400 visitors and 250 officers and men of the Queen Alexandra Mounted Rifles Regiment were horrified yesterday afternoon to see a trooper and his mount crash to earth together, and, as the frightened horse rose and bolted, the trooper dragged behind it by one foot caught in a stirrup. It seemed inevitable that he either would be struck by the horse's hoofs or badly injured as he was dragged over rough ground, but the stirrup leather snapped under the strain. The rider was bruised and shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

The accident occurred with startling suddenness during a display of tent pegging. Time after time the horsemen had raced the length or the Waiwakailio showground oval in a spectacular display. The riders crouched low in the saddle with their long lances aimed at tent pegs hammered in the ground, and, as they swept i>y they lifted the pegs from the ground and waved them on their spearheads. One unfortunate rider made a miscalculation and, as he swept past a peg, his horse stumbled and fell heavily. As the terrified animal rolled to its feet the rider struggled to free himself from the stirrups. He cleared his right leg, hut his left foot was caught and he was dragged for about 30 yards behind the bolting horse. His comrades dashed unsuccessfully to halt the runaway. " When the trooper got slowly to his feet, disdaining assistance despite his ordeal, he was met with a spontaneous burst of applause from the. large gathering. He was badly shaken and had received fairly extensive bruises, but was not seriously injured.