On Monday, 19 October, an articulated lorry carrying ten horses from rejoneador Diego Ventura’s stable overturned on the A-5 at kilometre 266, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, near Trujillo (Cáceres). It was coming back from Zaragoza, where Ventura had closed his mounted-bullfighting season on Sunday. The cause of the overturn is not confirmed. No death has been announced.

The driver was slightly injured. A Guardia Civil traffic officer was kicked in the knee while helping to get a horse off the carriageway and was taken to Cáceres University Hospital. We do not name him. ABC writes that four people were in the vehicle — two drivers and two grooms — all with slight injuries. No death is reported among the people or the horses.

The horses came out with cuts and bruises. The worst were Brillante and Fauto. Manager Andrés Caballero told El Mundo those two were the most seriously hurt; in the afternoon, on COPE, that the cuts had been sutured and that, if no complications arise, he hopes they recover. That is his wording, not a published veterinary bulletin from a hospital.

ABC noted in the morning that the animals had been taken to a property near Trujillo, to vets. In the afternoon Caballero told COPE they were heading for the Seville farm after first treatment. Ventura went to the accident site. A lorry from Portuguese rider Rui Fernandes’s team was behind; people from that crew helped get the horses out, according to the same manager.

Traffic on the A-5 was diverted. The Guardia Civil announced a diversion from kilometre 248 towards the A-58, then the A-66 towards Mérida. The lorry is wrecked; the cause of the overturn remains open. The suggestion that the driver had fallen asleep, which appeared in some accounts, is not confirmed.

Ventura is a rejoneador — bullfighting on horseback — and works from La Puebla del Río. El Mundo again puts him at the top of the ranking for the season that closed in Zaragoza; that is their table, not a record checked here. Monday’s crash is a road accident, not a verdict on the season.

The closed facts: the place, the overturn, slight injuries to people, ten horses got out and treated. The horses’ recovery, the tendons, the cause: still open.

Image: Trujillo castle, Cáceres, 22 July 2023, Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The town near the crash, not the overturned lorry and not the horses.

Sources consulted: Grave accidente del camión de la cuadra de Diego Ventura al regreso de Zaragoza — El Mundo; Andrés Caballero: «Ha sido un gran susto, pero lo importante es que los caballos están bien» — COPE; El camión de caballos de Diego Ventura sufre un grave accidente en Trujillo — ABC.