Confusion surrounds the cause of a power fault which led to four horses suffering electric shocks.

Electricity network company Northern Powergrid said the fault had been traced to a house.

But the occupant denied the problem was there.

Horse riders had complained about two separate incidents, which occurred while they were riding or leading their horses down a dirt track in Oakworth.

Both incidents took place at the western end of Spring Head Road during the afternoon and evening of May 31. One of the horse owners, Margaret Howley, said her pet dog also received an electric shock.

And she said another of her horses was also given an electric shock on the same track five months ago.

A spokesman for Northern Powergrid told us: “As soon as we were alerted, we dispatched engineers to the scene.

“After a thorough investigation, they determined our cabling and equipment were safe and working correctly. The fault was located in the domestic supply at a nearby property.

“As a precaution, we disconnected the supply to the property until the homeowner carries out repairs.”

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

The man, who did not want to be identified, said as part of the investigation his house had its power disconnected from midnight on May 31 until Saturday June 2, but added no-one had told him the source of the problem or if it had been resolved.

He said riders had used the track for many years without issues.

But he said a box on a telegraph pole in a neighbour’s garden caught fire about a year ago and the problems experienced by the horses had occurred since then.