THREE horses were seriously injured after escaping a field and being hit by a car in Mere.

The animals were involved in the collision with a Skoda Octavia after they managed to escape from a field on Mereside Road on Wednesday October 7.

Police were called to the scene, in which the driver’s car was written off after one of the horses broke through the windscreen, but the animals had already bolted.

Despite their efforts searching a nearby field and carrying out house to house enquiries, officers were unable to locate the horses that night.

The following morning PC Jim Day of Macclesfield LPU, who is also leading the 100 rural days initiative, turned up at the scene and began a search for the missing horses.

“I managed to find the animals lying down in the field,” he said. “They had nasty injuries, lacerations, cuts and holes. They were not very well at all.”

After tracking down the farmer, they were able to contact the owners who are equine breeders based in Crowton.

A vet arrived to clean, treat and bandage the horses wounds before they were tranquilised and put into a horse box and trailer.

“We actually carried those horses into the box,” said PC Jim Day. “They will be ok which is the main thing. They will survive but they were pretty poorly. Luckily none of them sustained any broken bones.

“It was a good result that they were found. They were in the field all night on their own.”

The incident occurred on day 63 of the 100 days of rural crime initiative, which is being carried out in smaller rural and farming communities across the region.

As part of the initiative, the police have pledge to crackdown on rural crime and to meet people in the community and help to solve the issues that regularly affect their lives.