Horseback Riders and Royalty: The Intriguing Tale of Three Runaway Horses in Central London

The Royal Cavalry suffered a minor setback when three of its horses broke away from formation during routine training at Hyde Park in central London. On July 1, a formation of six horses and five officers was conducting their usual training exercises when the lead horse, which was being led by an officer, was startled by the noise of a bus and broke free of its reins. The two horses following behind threw off the officers and followed the lead horse out of formation.

The chaos that ensued saw the group racing through the streets of London, colliding with cars in Mayfair’s Seville district. However, police were quick to act and managed to round up one horse before it could cause any more harm. The other two horses continued on to Vauxhall Bridge before being intercepted. All three horses were returned safely to barracks at around 9.55am, with no serious injuries sustained by either humans or animals.

Images and videos shared on social media revealed that at least one horse had encountered a car during its wild run through London’s streets. Despite this incident, police confirmed that they had worked closely with the military to locate all three rogue horses and bring them back under control.

This incident marks the second time in recent months that Royal Cavalry horses have gone rogue on London’s streets. In April 2023, five Royal Hussars horses broke away from their training formation after being startled by construction work noise, causing three accidents within 10 minutes and injuring four people. Two injured horses were sent to the countryside for a summer break but will soon return to duty with the Royal Hussars while three others took part in King Charles III’s birthday parade on June 15th.

As such, police will continue to liaise with the military regarding this incident as they work together to ensure that these incidents do not happen again in future.