Five military horses got spooked during a training exercise, bolting and weaving a path of destruction across the city before being captured. Several people and horses are being treated for injuries.
Five military horses — including one seemingly covered in blood — got loose in central London early Wednesday, galloping through rush hour crowds, smashing into vehicles and injuring several people before being recaptured.
“A number of military working horses became loose during routine exercise this morning,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told NPR. “All of the horses have now been recovered and returned to camp.”
According to the ministry, six soldiers and seven horses from the Household Cavalry — specifically the Life Guards, the most senior regiment of the British Army — were conducting an “extended exercising of horses” around London, known as the Watering Order.
About a mile into their journey, as they passed by a construction site in the Belgravia area, the sound of concrete hitting the ground “caused the horses to spook.”
Five of the horses bolted, unseating four soldiers. Three soldiers were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the horses kept running.
