Facebook seller mis-sold me a horse that kicked my daughter in the head

When her teenage daughter was lying motionless on the floor after being kicked in the head by a horse, Fiona feared the worst.

"For a moment, I thought she was dead," she said. "I thought she had broken her neck."

The horse Fiona bought six weeks earlier via Facebook was marketed as a "teenager's dream" but during a riding lesson, it bucked and bolted with her daughter partially on it before kicking her in the head.

Now Fiona, whose name has been changed to protect her daughter's identity, is one of five women who have told the BBC they were mis-sold horses that were either unsafe to ride or had life-limiting conditions by horse seller Tasha Lee Hopkins.

Fiona's 13-year-old daughter was rushed to hospital in an ambulance with concussion and spent about two weeks recovering at home from her injuries after the incident at a riding arena in south Wales.

"You could see on the side of her helmet, the hoofmark where she got kicked in the head," said Fiona.

"I was thinking, 'oh my gosh she's going to be paralysed.' It was just awful."

Fiona witnessed the "terrifying" moment and was "absolutely horrified" to later discover she had been sold a horse that had never been sufficiently trained to ride.

"I trusted Tasha. I believed what she said and she sold us a horse that wasn't fit for purpose, it wasn't fit for a child to be riding," added Fiona.

A leading horse welfare organisation has warned of "too many cases" where horses that cannot be ridden are given away or sold "until they end up in a really poor situation".

World Horse Welfare said unlike other animals such as dogs, there are no regulatory or voluntary industry standards for horse trading, so it is "vital" that sellers and prospective buyers do their due diligence.

It had been advertised on Facebook group CT Sports Horses, which is run by Hopkins and another person, and describes itself as selling "safe sports horses" that have six-month warranties.

"We went to view the horse and met Tasha and she seemed lovely, it all felt very genuine," said Fiona.

"It wasn't until the horse arrived back at home that it all started to unravel."