'I held my beautiful horse as he died following a barrage of fireworks'

A beloved was put down after a display which his devastated owner believes led to his death.

Annamaria Shepherd is now urging officials to tighten firework regulations to prevent future heartache. Her horse, 24-year-old George, was startled by the fireworks show near his home in Waunfawr, last week.

It is understood the vet diagnosed stress-induced colic, but despite all efforts, George had to be euthanised, leaving Annamaria to mourn her cherished companion. Annamaria had found George, a retired competition horse, in distress in his paddock in Waunfawr, a rural village near Eryri National Park (Snowdonia).

Annamaria recounted: "I held his head. I talked to him before he went, saying how much I loved him and how I would never forget him. I don't have children, so he was my family and now he's gone. People need to realise the consequences of their actions – I lost my beautiful boy just because someone wanted 20 minutes of sparkle and bangs. It's not right. The government needs to take action because this is happening all too often."

Annamaria, fully aware of the risks to George and her other horses, had kept them stabled overnight from Sunday to Thursday, November 3-8. Confident that the firework festivities had concluded, she left them out on Friday night, only to face the unforeseen tragedy, reports .

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The owner added: "I was planning to keep them inside again over the weekend, in case the displays started up again. If I'd known there was going to be fireworks 200 yards away on the Friday, I would have kept them inside that night as well. When they began, I rushed to the field but it was too late to bring them in. They were running around and it would have been dangerous to go in - they were too excited.

"First thing on Saturday morning, I checked up on them and found George covered in mud and struggling to stand. I called the vet and he sedated George and gave him painkillers. At that time, he thought George would be OK. But he was clearly exhausted and during the day, he went downhill. I called the vet again. George was just too weak to cope and, at 5pm, the decision was taken to put him to sleep to prevent more suffering."

Annamaria received support from other horse owners online. One said her horses were "freaked out" following a similar incident on November 4 in Kinmel Bay, Conwy County. Another said the problem has been a constant for decades as, 30 years ago, pub's grand display threatened the life of her horse named Ben.