BOLTING HORSE STOPPED

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32787, 11 December 1971, Page 1

BOLTING HORSE STOPPED

A young man jumped from ' a fast-moving truck yesterday on to the back of a bolting horse which had earlier thrown its rider in Wainoni. Mr Trevor Waihi, aged 17, of 53 Wainoni Road, and a companion, Douglas Martin, aged 15, noticed the horse running towards them in Wainoni Road. Its rider, Miss Judith Francis, aged 17, of 75 Eureka Street, Aranui, was pulling hard on the reins apparently unable to stop the animal. At the comer of Wainoni Road and Bickerton Street Miss Francis was thrown from the horse. She landed on the bonnet of a parked car and was knocked unconscious. While his companion ran into a shop to call an ambulance Mr Waihi ran after the horse, which made off down Bickerton Street and into Pages Road.

“The horse had panicked and was going flat stick down the middle of the road," Mr Waihi said. “I waved out to a truck coming along the road and asked the driver to drive alongside the horse.”

“When we got close to the horse I opened the door of the cab and stepped on to the running board. I then dlosed the cab door to give myself more room. “The driver got right beside the horse and I jumped on,” said Mr Waihi. “At first I didn’t think I was going to make it into the saddle. ’The hone calmed down a bit with me on. I got it under control then rode it back to the shops where the accident happened." Jumping on to the horse was no new experience for Mr Waihi. He was raised on a farm in Gisborne where he often climbed from the back of one moving horse to another when breaking horses in. It was much more difficult from a truck, he said. Miss Francis was admitted to the resuscitation ward at Christchurch Hospital where her condition last evening was described as fair.