being approached by a tractor trailer.

Police reported that the horse, which was attached to a carriage, was travelling with its driver near the Causeway at 9.47 a.m. when it became frightened by a tractor trailer and started kicking.

"The horse stumbled and hit his head on the road. It is believed to have died a few minutes later,'' P.c. Gary Venning of Community and Media Relations said.

"The tractor was not travelling at an unreasonable speed but the rattling sound it made while going over the bridge frightened the horse.'' P.c. Venning added: "It is extremely unfortunate that it takes an incident like this to bring home the importance of driving carefully in the vicinity of horses.

"We do strongly advise motorists to exercise extreme caution when approaching both horse and carriage and single horse riders. Horses are very easily frightened by large trucks, sudden or unexpected movement, and noises such as horns and large noisy vehicles.''