A BANK manager was fatally injured when a horse suddenly ‘freaked out’ and began thrashing around in a transporter, an inquest heard.

Peter McGuire, 51, was travelling with his wife Marie and daughter Zoe along the A56, near Edenfield, with the girl’s horse Hedgehog, when he sensed problems with the transporter.

Burnley Coroner’s Court heard Mr McGuire pulled into a layby to check on the horse.

His wife Marie said that when he went into the horse-box he could see internal partitions had been kicked off by Hedgehog but the horse appeared calm and still.

But when Mr McGuire approached the animal, according to his wife, Hedgehog appeared to ‘freak out’ and kick out.

The inquest heard that Mr McGuire appeared to have suffered a broken leg, at this point, but his wife was unable to move him away because of his size and positioning within the horse-box.

Hedgehog began to move back and Mrs McGuire was forced outside the box. She could hear her husband inside saying ‘calm down’ to the horse before she heard two loud noises, then silence.

The court was told that when Mrs McGuire looked back into the horse-box there was ‘a significant amount of blood’ and Mr McGuire was slumped at the side of the vehicle. Hedgehog had also broken free of his tethering.

Mrs McGuire, who was kicked in the head and chest by the horse, said: “I had to get out of there because I feared for my life.” Sgt Mick Young, a road policing officer alerted a vet so that the horse could be sedated, before Mr McGuire’s body could be retrieved. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The inquest heard that Mr McGuire, of Aylesbury Grove, Middleton, had been travelling with his family and Hedgehog to Croft Top Equestrian Centre on October 31 last year.

Mrs McGuire said her husband was experienced with horses and there had been no previous difficulties with Hedgehog’s temperament.

East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor, who said the cause of Mr McGuire’s death was head injuries, recorded a verdict of accident death.