The mystery of the New Forest horse attacks: Equestrian’s Olympic dreams dashed after prize horse found dead
The New Forest in the UK is a beautiful, serene and peaceful place. It was also the scene of an apparent murder recently, when a prize horse was found dead from a knife wound. The alleged murder has dashed the Olympic dream of its rider and owner who now
has to train another horse to be ready for the 2016 Olympics. It was a huge blow for the rider as she was tipped as one of England’s best chances of winning a medal at Equestrianism at the London Games in 2012. This incident followed on from a series of mysterious
incidents in which a number of horses were injured. The police are investigating the matter and hope to resolve it very soon.
Charlotte Springall is a very talented British Olympian competing in the sport of horse riding. The equestrian talent was the country’s best hope of winning a gold medal in the sport but that was until her prize horse was found dead. The crime seemed to
be suspicious to the police and they are not ruling out the possibility of it being a deliberate attack. Springall had been training on the horse, Folds Gretna, for many years and she was looking forward to competing with it at the London Olympics. The 35-year-old
is devastated at the loss and it means that she will only be able to compete in 2016 now after training a new horse.
Springall’s horse, Folds Gretna was found dead near the rider’s field in Godshill, Hants which lies in the vicinity of the New Forest. Police determined that the death of the horse was caused by a large gash wound to its side, letting it die of asphyxiation
from a punctured diaphragm. Upon examining the horse’s wound, the police ruled out the fact that it could have sustained the injury on its own from say impaling itself on a fence or from a fight with another horse. No shards of wood were found in the wound
and it was not similar to a horse fight injury. It looked deliberate and could have been the latest in a long line of suspicious injuries to other horses in the area.
Around the same time as Folds Gretna was found dead with the injury to its side, a few other horses were also found with similar injuries in and around the New Forest area. The wounds that the horses sustained were very horrific and ranged from four inch
deep and four inch wide cuts to puncture wounds. A former racing horse was found with a fatal gash to its side alarmingly similar to the wound that killed Folds Gretna. The police are treating all of these cases as suspicious after some horse owners reported
seeing a suspicious looking man lurking around near their horses. The case now rests in the hands of the police, whether they are able to capture the suspected assailant and solve the mystery of the New forest or will it remain an unsolved case.
There could be two major reasons why Springall’s horse was attacked, if indeed it is found to have been a malicious attack. The first could be deliberate sabotage by a rival. This is going into the realm of conspiracy theories but it might be a possibility.
A rival who wanted to win gold for him/herself and wanted Springall out of the picture could have hired someone to take out her horse. If this is the case then this story is reminiscent of old mafia crime capers. The other reason is more plausible; the crime
was a random act of senseless violence done by some troubled individual or individuals just for the heck of it. The death of Fords Gretna could have been just one in a series of vicious random attacks of animal cruelty done in the area.
This very sad case has shocked the world of horse riding. Someone’s beloved and potentially medal winning horse was apparently murdered and it has put a real dent on the Olympic aspirations on Springall and Britain. We will have to wait and see what the
police are able to uncover and we should hope they apprehend the criminals involved in this heinous crime very soon before any other horses are attacked.
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