An elderly woman was airlifted to hospital on Sunday night after being kicked by a horse.
The woman, in her 70s, was injured by the horse at around 8.15pm on the Main Street in the village of Borris, Co Carlow.
Ambulance services from Kilkenny and Carlow along with local gardai attended the scene. Rescue helicopter R117 based at Waterford airport was called to the incident and brought the injured woman to University Hospital Waterford (UHW).
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Officers are investigating the incident in an effort to ascertain how the woman was in the vicinity of where the horses were being kept. Hundreds of people have gathered for this year’s Borris Horse Fair - the first to be held in three years due to the pandemic.
A garda spokesperson said: “Gardaí attended the scene of an incident that occurred at approximately 20:15pm on the Main Street, in Borris, Co Carlow.
“A female in her 70’s received injuries from a horse and was taken to University Hospital Waterford for injuries which are believed to be non-life threatening.
“Investigations ongoing.”
The Borris fair, in Co Carlow which is normally held every year on August 15th, the feast of the Assumption, dates back to a 400-year-old charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I.
Motorists have been banned from entering the village for the past two days and access to the village is for pedestrians only.
The Fair has drawn a lot of criticism in the past due to the cost of the clean-up operation it has cost in the past. It has cost Carlow County Council upwards of €16,000 to clear rubbish in the Fair aftermath.
In recent years, engagement with Traveller organisations including Pavee Point has brought the fair back from the brink of ending. In 2009 the post-fair focus was on the rubbish left on the streets and not cleaned up by the local authority in a timely fashion.
Clothes, electrical goods, hardware, furniture, toys, horses, ponies and sheep are normally for sale and line the Main Street which stretches for up to a kilometre.
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