A woman who claims she fell off a horse and suffered a traumatic brain injury after it was startled by a swan is suing an animal charity for more than £200,000.
At the time of the accident, Sarah Ann Potterton was riding a traditional breed Suffolk Punch draught horse, that was owned by the Otter Trust.
She was riding the horse called Alfie at the trust's Earsham site, near Bungay, when a wild swan is said to have suddenly flown up from a nearby river, causing the horse to shy and gallop away and causing her to fall off.
Documents lodged at the High Court say Mrs Potterton, who ran the coffee shop at the charity’s nature reserve, suffered brain damage from the incident which happened in April 2019.
She is suing the charity for more than £200,000 as she claims the nature trust ought to have known that the large Suffolk Punch horse - a breed which often weighs over a ton - was unusually liable to be scared by the unexpected and that it was not safe for her to ride him.
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Though the charity's legal team denies any wrongdoing and will dispute the claim, the trust says they are working to support the victim.
Court papers say Alfie was a "good-mannered docile Suffolk Punch" who had "a reputation for being a calm horse that did not react unpredictably".
The legal documents are in the hands of the High Court and it is not known when a settlement will be agreed.
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The Otter Trust's chairman Roger Walsh told this newspaper: "Sarah’s health and well-being are paramount.
"It matters not who is involved, this is what our duty of care is about.
"As a trust, we take the accident very seriously and have put in place robust health and safety plans and recruited a H&S specialist to be a trustee."
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