Dead Horse at the Wedding

The following story may be distressing

This is unusual and quite sad story. It should have been beginning of what should have been a joyous occasion; the joining of two young lives in matrimony, instead their glorious day was saddened by the untimely and tragic death of a young horse.
It was a bright sunny day in 1983 and the groom had arrived at St Wilfred Church in Davenham and awaited the arrival of his bride and her entourage. The bride was to arrive in a fairy tale horse driven carriage followed by her bridesmaids, also arriving in a similar carriage.
When the bride arrived at the church the driver pull the horse to a stop outside the Lychgate and the bride gathered her white skirts and elegantly alighted from the carriage, whilst the bridesmaids’ carriage drew up alongside.
The bride and bridesmaids alighted from their respective carriages and made their way through the lychgate and into the church.
The carriage driver began to turn the carriage pulling into Davenham Court, unfortunately at this very moment the young grey horse, who had bought the bride, sank down between the shafts to the cobbles decidedly unwell.
Alas all was not well with the poor horse who was still in a state of collapse. Concerned villagers looked on and a vet was called. The prognosis was not good and the horse was euthanized and taken away.
The wedding guests were ignorant of the tragedy being enacted outside the church whilst the couple were being married. The now joined in Holy Matrimony couple exited the church under a flurry of confetti and climbed into the second carriage to go onto their wedding breakfast.
Suffice to say the owner of the horse was distressed, however he had acted with insufficient care towards his horse as it had been too young for this type of work.
We realize that this story might be upsetting to read however we cannot and should not cleanse our past of things we may find distasteful. This is one of our village stories.

More information concerning the health and welfare of horses can be found by contacting the organisations below. (NB They have no link to the story above)
https://www.bhs.org.uk/horse-care-and-welfare/health-care-management/euthanasia/
https://www.cheshirehorsesanctuary.co.uk/