THE British Horse Society staged an event in Tavistock last week to educate riders and road users how to stay safe.

Every year around 400 road incidents involving horses are reported to the British Horse Society. The session on March 7 at The Bedford Hotel was to discuss how these incidents can be avoided.

The society organised the event and invited Devon and Cornwall Police’s Rural Crime Team for Devon, who introduced the new rural affairs strategy and road safety for horses.

Around 75 people turned up to the event and were given advice about reporting near misses and accidents.

Since the launch of the society’s Horse Accidents website https://www.bhs.org.uk/our-work/safety/report-an-incident in 2010 there have been: more than 2,914 reports of road incidents involving horses; 230 horses have died and 39 riders have lost their lives; over 1,400 reported incidents involving dogs and horses; over 250 incidents involving fireworks and horses reported.