Horse crashes through driver's windscreen

Catherine Lawrence's face was badly bruised. Photo / Tim Cuff

Catherine Lawrence's face was badly bruised and her car written off after the collision with the horse near Tasman. PICTURES / TIM CUFF

Catherine Lawrence thought the airbag had gone off in her car after she crashed. It came as a shock when she realised it was actually a horse.

Mrs Lawrence, 74, is nursing a badly bruised face and injured eye, but is lucky to be alive after the horse catapulted through her windscreen into her Nissan March on Wednesday night.

The horse was killed instantly and ended up draped across the seats, while the roof was peeled back by the impact.

"I thought the body was the airbagthat had gone off, " Mrs Lawrence said.

She had already narrowly avoided hitting two horses on the road at Tasman, west of Nelson, when a third ploughed through the windscreen with a "terrific noise and bang".

"The horse hit me on the corner right in front of me. But he didn't come straight back - he went across and he just grazed me, knocking his flaming hooves into my face on the way through, and his head was on the back and the rest of him was piled up beside me on the passenger's seat.

"If anyone else had been in the car, they wouldn't have had a hope."

Mrs Lawrence was able to get out of the car herself, but was treated in hospital for her facial injuries.

"All the doctors at the hospital said go home and buy a Lotto ticket," she said.

The horse was one of four that had broken through electric fences after being spooked by something. The other three were safely rounded up. Police said the owner of the horses was deeply distressed by what had happened.