A horse fell to its death and was dragged for more than a kilometre on Waikouaiti Beach by a training vehicle, prompting a complaint to police and the SPCA from a horrified onlooker.
Pat Brambor was walking alongside the beach early on Saturday morning when she saw a ute pulling a trailer tethered with a team of horses at low tide.
She watched in horror as a dark brown horse in the middle was dragged behind the ute after the horse fell while turning a corner at the northern end of the beach.
"As soon as it fell down down, it would not have taken long for it to die."
The trainer of the horse, Bruce Negus, of Waikouaiti, confirmed an investigation into the incident was under way, and he blamed himself for the death of his 2-year-old horse.
"We put the horse on the jogger in the morning. It was dark and I put the wrong horse on. It wasn't an old mature educated horse at all. It was a young one." He and his wife were animal lovers, were mortified by its death, and had notified police in Waikouaiti about the incident.
Mrs Brambor said the driver, seemingly oblivious to the collapsed horse, continued driving the vehicle at pace towards Karitane, a distance of more than a kilometre.
The vehicle then turned around, reduced its pace and headed back towards the entrance way, and "it looked to me like she would have dragged the whole horse all the way back down the road".
Mrs Brambor said she was "disgusted" by the incident.
The vehicle got stuck in the sand at the entrance way and "then she [the driver] started reversing and almost ran over the horse backwards".
She said the woman did not get out of the vehicle to check on the condition of the horses.
Two people with a tractor later removed the dead animal from the beach.
Mrs Brambor believed the horse could have collapsed from a heart attack, tripped or been sick or lame during the training run, and she hoped it did not suffer.
Yesterday, police confirmed a complaint had been received, and the incident would be investigated.
Mrs Brambor said she would also file a complaint with the SPCA.