Mystery still surrounds the cause of a power fault which led to four horses suffering electric shocks while trekking along a dirt track.

The shocks, believed to have been caused by an electricity supply fault in underground cables, happened on a trail popular with horse riders at the western end of Spring Head Road, Oakworth, Keighley.

Electricity network company Northern Powergrid investigated and said the fault had been traced to a house but the householder said there had been “no fault whatsoever”.

Those using the track warned that less experienced riders “could have been killed” following two separate incidents of animals being shocked at the end of last month.

Margaret Howley, 62, of Oakworth, said both her horse Walter and her border collie dog Meg received electric shocks in the afternoon the same day.

The six-year-old fell pony suddenly spun round and knocked her to the ground, injuring her elbow. When four-year-old Meg ran over the same part of the track she yelped with pain and now refuses to go near it.

Samantha Hedges, of Wheat Head Lane, said she was riding her 16-year-old male bay horse, Dale, when he suddenly “flipped” and started running forward, bucking and trying to keep his feet off the ground.

A spokesman for Northern Powergrid said: “We are concerned this incident took place and as soon as we were alerted to it, we dispatched engineers to the scene.

“After a thorough investigation, they determined that our cabling and equipment were safe and working correctly. The fault was then located within the domestic supply at a nearby property. As a safety precaution, we disconnected the supply to the property until the homeowner carries out the necessary repairs.”

But a resident at the house said his home was examined by technicians on May 31 and they did not locate any fault. He said the workers seemed “baffled” about the precise cause of the shocks.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said: “Two men came out and were here for a couple of hours but they couldn’t find any fault whatsoever. Another man came along at midnight and he did a very thorough job but he couldn’t find what was wrong either.”

He said as part of the investigation his house had its power disconnected from midnight on May 31 until Saturday June 2, but no one had told him the source of the problem or whether it had been resolved.

He said horses and their riders had used the track for many years without any issues but said a box on a telegraph pole in a neighbour’s garden caught fire at least one year ago, interrupting people’s power supply and forcing engineers to repair and alter the area’s electrical supply.

He said the problems experienced by the horses had happened since then.