Three Royal Cavalry horses broke away from formation, causing chaos on the streets of London and colliding with cars. A formation of six horses and five officers from the Royal Cavalry lost control on the morning of July 1 while conducting routine training at Hyde Park in central London, according to the British Ministry of Defense. In the Seville district of Mayfair, the lead horse, which was being led by an officer instead of being ridden, was startled by the noise of the bus and broke free of its reins. The two horses following behind threw off the officers and followed the lead horse out of formation.
When the group reached South Eaton Place in Belgravia, police successfully rounded up one horse. The other two horses continued on to Vauxhall Bridge before being intercepted. All three horses were returned to barracks safely at around 9.55am. The British Ministry of Defence said one of the group suffered “minor injuries” and no officers were hurt. Although the British military claimed all three horses were “quickly and safely rounded up”, images and videos shared on social media showed at least one horse encountering a car. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that it had worked with the military to locate the three horses during the raid.
Police will continue to liaise with the military regarding this incident,” a Metropolitan Police spokesman said. All three horses causing chaos this time were not involved in a similar incident on April 24, also in the British capital. In that incident, five horses from the Royal Hussars broke away from their training formation after being startled by the noise of construction work. The horses ran amok and caused three accidents within 10 minutes, injuring four people. One horse crashed into a taxi and lost a lot of blood, while another horse smashed the windshield of a tour bus. Three of the horses, Trojan, Tennyson, and Vanquish, were returned to duty and took part in the parade celebrating the birthday of King Charles III on June 15. The two injured horses, Vida and Quaker, were sent to the country for a “summer break” but will soon return to service with the Royal Hussars.