Horses are strong and majestic animals. Their tall and proud stature might make it seem like nothing can get them down. But beneath that hard exterior lies an intelligent, sensitive, and emotional creature. An unfortunate injury can cause a horse to come to a sticky end. A similar incident happened with equestrian Andrea Cox’s 17-year-old gelding.

The equestrian had to let go of her best friend when the gelding named Taffechan Dafydd broke his pedal bone after he got scared because of some low-flying hot air balloons. It was during the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta (BIBF) in August 2021. Even though Cox spent wads of green across several months on his recovery, unfortunately, Daffyd could not be saved.

Bizarre accident devastates equestrian Andrea Cox

In the morning of the black day, Cox came to her yard to find low-flying hot air balloons and a bunch of panicking horses. She had to go on a show that day, but instead, she found her beloved gelding unresponsive in the yard. She described the incident to Horse & Hound saying, “We were up early that day. My friend got there just before me and saw the commotion, and the balloons. They were coming from all directions and the horses were galloping about. By the time I got there, ‘Dav’ was standing stock still, and I couldn’t budge him.”

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An injured Dav hobbled to the yard and then was taken to the hospital. After the doctor’s visit, he had to face a long period of box rest. According to equestrian Andrea Cox, “It was a nightmare. Especially in summer when you expect them to be turned out. He had remedial shoeing, we gradually started walking him slowly and it was going in the right direction, but then he wasn’t quite right. The vet said we’d done more than we could do and he should have been more recovered but he wasn’t.”

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Even though the equestrian spent £9,000 for Dav’s recovery, he did not get better and ultimately had to be euthanized. She said, “We gave him more time but it didn’t get better, it got worse, to the point we had to have him put to sleep.” The fiesta offered £500 to cox as compensation, but to her, that was merely an insult to the memory of her beloved friend. “Dav was a lovely, funny character – he was my best friend.”

Cox complains about the fiesta’s negligence

The fiesta calls itself “Europe’s largest annual hot air balloon festival” and attracts over 100 balloons in a period of four days. Andrea revealed that the balloons had never flown this close above her yard before and added, “They advertise it as a mass event and it was the mass of them that was the problem. If it had been one balloon, we might have been all right, but it was the number of them.” It also galled her that they did not give any notice that the balloons would fly so low, else she would have kept the horses inside.

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The fiesta did not take personal liability for the incident. The fiesta’s spokesman said that each balloon had to carry insurance. However, the balloon’s insurer did not accept any responsibility either. The spokesman forwarded the insurer’s comments and they read, “I must advise that it is not accepted that BIBF should be found legally liable for Dav’s injuries. In stating this, we point out that BIBF had no control over the operation of individual balloons. I have seen no evidence either, to show that any balloons were flown unreasonably close to your property/Dav.”

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While the fiesta expressed remorse for the situation, ultimately, there was no respite for the heartbroken owner who lost her best friend to the negligent behavior of the organizers as well as the pilots of the hot air balloons.