A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl from West Hanney has died after being kicked by a horse as she rode with the Cotswold Hunt.

Schoolgirl Bonnie Armitage suffered serious injuries after the incident near a farm in Gloucestershire at about 1pm on Saturday.

She was rushed to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital by air ambulance but died later.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious. It is understood Bonnie suffered fatal injuries when she was kicked by another horse while riding her pony.

Residents paid tribute to the youngster, a pupil at St Hugh's preparatory school in Faringdon, and described her sudden death as a "terribly sad event".

One resident, a mother, who asked not to be named, said: "The Hunt is very well known and established in the area. The feeling around the village is that it is just a terribly terribly tragic, sad event.

"It is just awful when somebody so young is involved."

Bonnie was a pupil at St Hugh's where her father Nick Armitage, 40, is a deputy head and housemaster.

Her mother Polly is a professional renaissance flute player.

Bonnie herself played the violin and was a keen hockey player and cross-country runner. She had a brother Zach, 11, and a sister Mamie, aged four.

The family lived together in North Green, West Hanney.

This evening Andrew Nott, headmaster of St. Hugh's said: "The entire school community was devastated to learn of the tragic death of one of our pupils, Bonnie Armitage, following a riding accident on Saturday.

"Bonnie, the daughter of a member of our staff, was a truly lovely, talented girl who was bright, kind, compassionate and full of joy.

"Our love, thoughts and prayers are with her parents, Nick and Polly, and siblings Zach and Mamie at this profoundly difficult time."