A horse was killed after kicking out the floor of a trailer in which he was riding, falling backwards, and being dragged on a busy roadway near Fort Pierce, Florida. A second horse was injured in the incident.

Tammy Hayes Beville operator of her family’s Tours on Horses, said nine horses were travelling to a beach in a semi-truck-hauled trailer on April 5 when one horse kicked out the rear boards of the trailer’s newly installed floor. The horse fell backward onto the roadway and was dragged for roughly a quarter mile before the driver noticed that it had fallen.

“It was a freak accident,” Beville said. “The floor was new and, because we (use) a tractor trailer and are subject to more extensive safety rules, it had been inspected.”

A second horse sustained a leg injury injured when it stepped in the hole in the floor