RELATIVES and friends have paid tribute to a popular teenager who died after being trampled by a horse.

It is thought 18-year-old Sarah Catt was kicked by the animal while it was being groomed. Sarah, who lived at Biddenden, near Ashford, died on Wednesday.

Sarah was airlifted to Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital last Friday just before 12.30pm following the incident at Ellison Court stables and liveries on the Sissinghurst Road, near Biddenden.

She was later transferred to King’s College Hospital where her parents, Paul and Maureen and sister Gemma, 17, kept a bedside vigil.

Sarah, a well-liked former pupil at Homewood school, Tenterden, who worked at stables, sustained injuries to the back of her head. Friends and family are stunned by the incident. A close family friend said: She was an absolutely fantastic girl.

“She had a very nice personality, was quiet and had lots of friends. Accidents happen but this has left friends and family speechless.”

Carl Burgess, owner of Ellison court, said: “She was a lovely girl and very good with the horses. “She had worked here for two years and was working towards her NVQ stage three.

“She was a natural rider and just like one of the family. Everybody liked her.”

The environmental health department at Ashford Borough Council is investigating the incident.