Hyde park horse dies

The last remaining horse to survive the Hyde Park nail bombing has died more than 20 years after the IRA atrocity.

Yetti was one of three horses to live on after the appalling attack on a procession of the Household Cavalry in 1982, which left four soldiers and seven horses dead in one of the worst terrorist outrages to hit mainland Britain.

Although he escaped with minor injuries, Yetti was so traumatised by the attack he was withdrawn from service and sent to the Home of Rest for Horses, near Princes Risborough in the Chilterns, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was 36.

Gilly Lloyd, spokesman for the home, said: "Yetti was the epitome of a grand old gentleman - increasingly frail but never losing his zest for life and never, ever, forgetting his manners."

The two other horses to survive the attack, Sefton and Echo, also lived out their final years with Yetti, among the 215 acres of green meadows and hills at the home.

It was on 20 July 1982 that a remote-controlled car bomb packed with nails exploded in South Carriage Drive, on the edge of Hyde Park.

The explosion ripped through the car as a detachment of the Blues and Royals made their way from Knightsbridge Barracks to Horseguards Parade for the Changing the Guard ceremony. Dozens of spectators were also injured.

The terrible injuries sustained by Sefton, and the courageous way he recovered, captured the nation's heart and made headlines months after the attacks. Sefton lived for another 11 years before being put down at the age of 30 in 1993, when he became incurably lame as a result of the attack.

Echo, a former Metropolitan Police horse, suffered dreadful blast injuries. His jugular vein was severed, his eye torn open and his belly peppered with shrapnel.

Detective Constable John Davies, now 47, who was riding Echo that day, was hit in the shoulder and the arm but it was Echo who took most of the blast impact. The horse died last year at the age of 32. Yetti and Echo were two of the oldest and best-loved horses at the home.

But Yetti's courageous spirit will live on through the tradition of reusing horse's names - a younger Yetti is already making his mark, according to Riding Master Dick Waygood.

"The younger Yetti is quite a character," said Captain Waygood. "His favourite trick is to buck when jumping - over he goes, and then he bucks."