A QUICK-thinking young horse enthusiast prevented potential disaster when she halted and calmed a runaway horse that was heading for a busy main road.

Holly-May Ball, 13, was in a car with her granddad heading for the Adsborough House Stables in Thurloxton when she spotted the distressed horse galloping down the country lane.

Holly's granddad parked the car across the country lane to block the horse's path, while Holly hopped out of the vehicle to tend to the animal, which had not come from the Adsborough House Stables.

Holly, who attends Heathfield School, said: “We saw this horse coming down the road - it was in quite a panic. My granddad blocked the road with the car and I got out and started to calm it down.

“I stayed with the horse but it was quite scared.

“I've been going to the stables since I was five and working with horses since I was eight, so I wasn't nervous and knew what to do.

“The horse was heading straight for the main road, so it was lucky that we managed to calm it down.

“The horse had thrown a woman off and she was very grateful when she saw me walking the horse back towards the stables.”

Holly-May's mother, Michelle said she was very proud of daughter.

“She's very confident with anything to do with horses - she knows what she's doing.

“I'm very proud of her and how calm she managed to stay.”