UPDATE: Boy, 9, ‘traumatised’ after pony hit and run

An angry mother says her nine-year-old boy has been left ‘traumatised’ after a car ran into a pony he was riding and threw him into a hedge.
Victims Josh and TangoVictims Josh and Tango
Victims Josh and Tango

Joshua Kindell, was riding his pony Tango in Loxwood Road, Rudgwick, when the animal was struck from behind by a silver car which did not stop after the incident on Monday morning (August 19), say Sussex Police.

His mother Kate, 33, had to be taken to hospital after the pony bolted and dragged her across the road as she held onto the reins.

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The pair were only a couple of hundred of yards away from the stables near The Fox when the collision took place just after 10am.

“All of a sudden I heard a massive thudding noise,” she told the County Times.

A car wing mirror struck Tango with such force it came off and Kate, her son and the pony were all thrown into the hedge.

Luckily, Josh landed on his feet and only suffered bruising on his thigh.

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Ligaments were torn in Kate’s hand and the pony was cut and bruised.

A vet visited to check the pony for injuries.

“If the wing mirror didn’t hit the pony but the car bonnet did, I don’t want to think about what could have happened,” continued Kate.

She said her son was traumatised by the incident and has been ‘up in the night crying’.

“If the driver had stopped it would have been a completely different story,” she said.

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“I’m gobsmacked. I’m lost for words and can’t describe how I feel.”

Police are carrying out forensic tests on a wing mirror knocked off in the impact to try to link it to the vehicle involved and its driver.

PC Karen Whitehouse, of Sussex Police road policing unit, said: “The boy was fortunate to have fallen into the hedge and not into the road where he could have suffered more serious injuries.

“It is clear from the debris left at the scene that the driver must have known that they had hit the pony but did not bother to check on the animal, the boy or his mother.”

Police have seized a car for examination.

Anyone with any information can contact 101 quoting serial 387 of August 19 or email [email protected]

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