Horse collapses from exhaustion while pulling newly married couple's wedding carriage up hill

Animal rights campaigners considering legal action

Men tend to the fallen horse (Screengrab/Facebook)

Dramatic images have emerged showing a horse collapsing, apparently from exhaustion, after pulling the carriage of a newlywed couple up a hill.

The animal, said to be pulling a 180kg carriage, fell down in the town of Borgetto, Sicily.

Bystanders in wedding suits can be seen tending to the white stallion, trying to remove the attachments to the open carriage it drew.

Its current condition is unknown.

The fallen horse, which was decorated with large feather plumes, blocked traffic in the town.

The images were widely circulated on Italian social media after being posted to social media by Enrico Rizzi, president of animal rights group Nucleus Operational Protection of Animals (Noita).

“To reach the church, the animal was forced to make a steep climb (on the only road) which was slippery because of the rain,” Mr Rizzi said on Facebook.

“It arrived at the entrance and it crashed to the ground.”

He said he would be filing a legal complaint against the horse’s owners.

A Noita statement said: "We have already written to local authorities to ask them to confirm the current condition of the horse."