LONDON – Two of the horses of the Royal Regiment that went berserk on Wednesday, throwing their riders off their horses and galloping for hours in the middle of traffic in the streets of the capital, “have been operated on” for their injuries and are “in serious condition”. This was announced by the British Ministry of Defense, the day after the chaos caused by an unprecedented accident in London.
In total, says a spokesperson for the Royal Household Cavalry, seven horses suddenly broke ranks during the exercise that was taking place near Buckingham Palace in view of a ceremony scheduled in Hyde Park in the next few days. Although trained to navigate the confusion and noise of a large city, it appears that heavy construction material dropped on a nearby construction site was the event that frightened them. Three of the horses were also controlled by their jockeys. Four others unhorsed the knights and fled.
A military spokesperson announced the names of the four horses, photographed and filmed by passers-by, who suffered injuries when they crashed into a double-decker bus, a taxi and other vehicles: they are called Vida, Trojan, Qaker and Tennyson. “Two of the injured horses were operated on by vets on Wednesday night, one was subsequently transferred to an equine hospital” and they are both in “serious” condition. The other horses protagonists of the episode are kept under close observation. Those who did not require surgery will return to their duties in the Royal Regiment in the future.
Four people were injured and received treatment in hospital: three of the jockeys who were knocked off their horses and a cyclist who was hit by one of the horses. “This was an unusual event,” says Deputy Defense Minister James Cartlidge. “Every day around 150 horses exercise on the streets of London and we have never had an accident like this.” After identifying their movements with a drone, two of the horses were recovered by firefighters along the Thames, in the eastern area of the metropolis, 8 kilometers away from the site of the exercise.
Founded in 1660, the Household Cavalry was reformed in 1945 as the Royal Household and intended for purely ceremonial duties. It was once made up almost exclusively of knights belonging to aristocratic families and today it is an honor to be part of it. Based in Hyde Park Barracks, in the Knightsbridge district, the Royal Horse Regiment is made up of two squadrons of 25 cavalrymen each. His duties are to guard the royal residences and parade during ceremonial parades, for which he continually trains. Londoners are used to seeing columns of knights on horseback passing among cars to reach the park or the square near Buckingham Palace for exercises. But a dramatic Wild West scene like the one on Wednesday had never been seen.
