Debbie’s mane road heroics

EQUINE HEROINE . . . Debbie Broadbent with Charlie (left) and Oliver.

BRAVE Debbie Broadbent averted a potential catastrophe when she jumped in front of two runaway horses as they galloped towards busy Huddersfield Road.

She grabbed hold of the reins of one of the panicking animals as it hurtled towards her, bringing it to a halt.

The second riderless horse stopped when it realised it was on its own, and Debbie quickly gathered its reins too.

Her colleague at HSB Haughton, April Brown, hurried on to the bridleway which runs behind the Waterhead company’s car park, known as the manors, and found two girls running to catch their mounts.

The animals had broken free, and the girls were relieved to find them with Debbie (34), who caught them as they careered along Heywood Street towards Huddersfield Road.

They were galloping towards their stables, which would have taken them straight across Huddersfield Road and into the path of traffic travelling on both sides of the carriageway.

The drama unfolded shortly after Debbie and April stepped out of their office for a stroll and a breath of fresh air during a ten-minute break at 3.20pm.

“The horses came flying down Greenacres Road and round the bend.

“I tried to grab the reins of the first horse, but it was in a panic and it got past me,” said Debbie.

Realising the seriousness of the situation, she stood in front of the second runaway animal and said: “I made sure I caught it because if it had got past me I would never have caught them.

“They would have shot straight across Huddersfield Road and caused an accident.”

Debbie led the two 15hh horses to a patch of grass and calmed them until the girls arrived.

She is used to dealing with horses, having two of her own – a 15hh black Welsh cob, Oliver, and a 17.1hh Clydesdale, Charlie – but the incident still left her shaken.

“It was lucky I was able to act so quickly. It was just a case of being in the right place at the right time,” she said.

Debbie was caught in a similar situation last year when a horse she was holding spooked and ran off, and she was thrown by Oliver.

Both animals galloped down Ripponden Road, near the Rams Head, Denshaw.

“There was a load of traffic, but a man stopped to give us a lift when he saw us running, and someone else jumped out of a car and caught the horses.

“It was frightening. It all happened so quickly,” she said.