Teenage horse rider is injured while fleeing moped gang near Fareham

The 17-year-old rider, who wished to remain anonymous, had been riding along Mayles Lane, Funtley, when a group of 'youths on mopeds' began following and revving their engines loudly, according to a police report.

It has been reported that the rider's horse bolted, and the rider suffered bruising to their ankle after catching their leg in a fence,

This is the second incident in a month involving a large group of young people on mopeds and a horse rider on Mayles Lane.

Christina Campbell, who was confronted by a moped group in April, had told The News riders are 'terribly scared' to use the route - and warned that a younger rider could wind up 'seriously injured.'

Jo Hewitt, a horse rider from Bishop's Waltham, saw the moped gang 'driving very erratically' along Funtley Road.

She said: 'They were a group of teenagers, and they were not driving safely at all.'

'I won't go out on the roads any more - it's too dangerous.

'It looked like they were heading towards Gosport.'

And Jo says that car drivers can often act dangerously.

She said: 'Only recently, my horse was spooked by someone working in their garden.

'A car on the other side of the road kept coming straight at us - they didn't even slow down.'

Two horses are killed each week on UK roads, according to statistics complied by the British Horse Society earlier this year.

Last year, more than 40 horses were killed in incidents involving vehicles across Hampshire.

Director of safety at the BHS, Alan Hiscox, said the number was 'of huge concern.'

He said: 'We are aware that only one in 10 accidents are reported to us – these figures are only the tip of the iceberg.'

The BHS advises drivers approaching a horse and rider should slow down to 15mph, not use their horn or rev their engine, and pass the horse with plenty of room when safe to do so.