The Island?s roads have claimed another victim but this time it was not a person ? it was a horse.

But it could have been a tourist because when a speeding cement truck ploughed into a group from Spicelands Riding Centre in Warwick on Wednesday, the horse was being ridden by a visitor.

Police are now investigating the accident.

Spicelands Riding Centre owner Catrina Adcock told that the horse was carrying a female visitor on what should have been a pleasant summer ride when the accident occurred.

Ms Adcock, who is well known in the equestrian community, said the accident has left her shocked, grief-stricken and worried for her business. The business has been doing tours of the South Shore on horseback, and is popular with visitors to the Island who like to take a leisurely ride along the beaches and South Shore trails.

But Wednesday the tourists on the afternoon ride ended up traumatised after witnessing a Bierman?s cement truck plough down a horse.

Ms Adcock pointed out that all her horses are properly trained and are not taken out if they are too nervous to deal with the traffic.

?The tourists were traumatised, they couldn?t believe he was speeding and wouldn?t slow down when he saw the group. We?re all at a loss for words, the rider on Louise (the horse hit) wrote in her Police statement she thought she was going to die,? added Ms. Adcock.

Ms Adcock said her trail guide was leading a group of 11 horses out of the Warwick Long Bay exit and across South Shore Road when the cement truck came speeding around the corner and attempted to overtake cars and the horses.

Traffic on the other side of the road had to pull over onto the grassy embankment to get out of the driver?s way, according to Ms Adcock.

?Louise has been doing the trails for years, she gets nervous with the big trucks, she doesn?t bolt but she likes to turn and face it,? Ms Adcock said. ?She got spooked when she heard the truck speeding.

?The lady on horseback knew how to ride and tried to get her out of the way in time, but Louise froze. The truck struck Louise, with the rider hanging onto the reins.

?The collision actually lifted Louise off the ground, luckily the rider managed to avoid serious injury.?

Ms Adcock said the Police and a veterinarian were immediately called to the scene.

A gaping hole in Louise?s right flank required immediate attention.

?In her right flank there was a hole the size of a grapefruit where a man could fit his fist, you could see right through to the hip bone,? said Ms. Adcock. ?The right back hind was split from top to the hoof, there was an artery bleed, we couldn?t stop the bleeding, in the end, even after we gave her pain killers she had to be put down.?

Road Safety Officer Roxanne Christopher last night said commercial vehicle owners and their drivers need to take responsibility for heavy loads.

She was shocked to hear details of the accident but not surprised that it was the result of a heavy load vehicle attempting to overtake another vehicle.

?At the moment we?re working on recommendations for commercial vehicles to make sure they have the best training possible to handle our road infrastructure which requires additional expertise,? she said. ?In general we are seeing irresponsible driving habits including vehicles overtaking one another, we have had problems with commercial vehicles on our roads before but these are problems we have been working to address with education.?

Ms Adcock said she had contacted Bierman?s Cement Company for an explanation but had received no apology from the driver of the truck or the company on behalf of the driver.

?I can understand he was challenged to get a load to a job site and he was in a hurry ? but I?d like to ask him why he didn?t slow down seeing the horses,? she said. ?I am very upset and sad, I feel so guilty for Louise, to see any horse die in that way is a terrible, terrible, tragedy.?

And she added her voice to the growing chorus calling for drivers to clean up their habits.

?Already eight or ten people have died and its only the beginning of June, no one just seems to be getting it, it?s just so sad,? she said.visited the home of Michael Bierman last night for comment but he could not be contacted. Calls for comment were not returned by Press time last night.