A MUM of two is urging motorists to take care when driving in blinding sunlight after her pony was struck by a car and injured.
Shop worker Jackie Thompson, 48, was riding her five-year-old bay Welsh Section D mare Mena in South Weald, at around 9.15am on July 19 when the accident happened.
Mrs Thompson, of Stocks Lane, Kelvedon Hatch, recalled the incident, which took place in Weald Road between the junction for Sandpit Lane and the bridge over the A12.
She said: "It was a sunny day and there was no wind – it was peaceful until that happened.
"I was just riding down the road and other cars had managed to pass me quite safely but then all of a sudden behind me I heard a non-stop noise of screeching brakes.
"I just braced myself and put my heels down and said to myself 'don't panic'.
"Then I just heard the 'boom' and the horse leapt forward.
"She suffered cuts to her back legs and she made grooves in the road where her hooves have skidded."
Mrs Thompson, who was wearing a high-viz jacket and riding helmet at the time, added: "I am lucky to be alive.
"I haven't stopped shaking since and even now I find myself bursting out in tears all of a sudden."
Following the crash, Mrs Thompson visited House and Jackson vets in Blackmore where she was advised to clean Mena's wounds with antiseptic and to hose them with cold water to reduce the swelling.
The cuts have since healed and after a period of paddock rest, the 14.2hh former driving pony is expected to recover – although how well remains unclear.
Mrs Thompson told the Gazette the car involved was a purple Ford Fiesta and she said the driver stopped to make sure she was OK.
She claimed the man had admitted that he had not seen her horse due to the sunlight and said the incident made her recall how Brentwood resident Jane Mitchinson, 63, died after she was thrown from her horse into a ditch in Ashwells Road, Pilgrims Hatch, following an accident involving a white van in January 2011.
She said: "The driver of the Fiesta couldn't have been nicer but I just need to do this to warn drivers and horse riders about the dangers of bright sunlight."
Mrs Thompson reported the collision in person at Brentwood police station at 2pm on Friday although a spokesman for Essex Police could not find an electronic record of this.
