Yellowknife (May 24/06) - Sienna Hart and a friend were walking their horses through sand dunes on Yellowknife's outskirts Monday, when they suddenly saw the grey barrels of two paintball-guns pointing in their direction.

Sienna Hart was riding her horse, Willy, through the sandpits Monday when the pair were attacked by paint-ballers. Willy spooked and took off across Highway 3, forcing Hart to hold on for her life. - Andrew Raven/NNSL photo

"We yelled at them not to shoot," said the 16-year-old Hart, who spotted two people wearing camouflage and masks.

"We were just out there... minding our own business."

But seconds later, Hart and her friend heard the whizzing of paintballs coming towards them. The rounds splattered onto the two horses, sending the animals hurtling across nearby Highway 3 at a "breakneck gallop," leaving Hart, an expert rider, with a bad case off whiplash.

Hart, who went to the Stanton Hospital after the blitz where she was prescribed painkillers and anti-inflammatories, said things could have been much worse.

"I was praying there were no cars on the highway. And I was thinking: 'If I fall off, I'm going to die.'"

The RCMP is now looking into the attack, which equestrians are calling unprecedented and unprovoked.

Veterinarian Tom Pisz is Hart's trainer and owns stables across the street from the sandpits, a popular recreation area not far from the Yellowknife Airport. He was at the stables when Hart and her almost two-metre tall horse Willy came roaring back towards a low-slung barn door after the attack.

"He was spooked. I've never seen him like that," said Pisz.

Hart had lost her reins and was desperately hanging onto Willy's mane. She could have been "decapitated" had Willy run under the low-hanging door, said Pisz, who directed the pair away from the barn. The horse also almost "mowed down" a two-year-old boy and another man during the rampage, Hart said.

Meanwhile, the other horse ran into a parked truck before coming to a stop.

"That's crazy, man," Pisz said. "You could fall off a horse and break your neck or kill yourself. It's happened before."

After the horses were finally stopped - Hart estimated her wild ride lasted for five minutes - Pisz went across to the sandpits to confront the paint-ballers and "get the little bastards" behind the ambush. Each horse had been hit at least once in the leg.

He said he found 15 people wearing camouflage and brandishing paintball guns - four adults and 11 teens. "They looked like real army people," he said. Pisz said he was unable to find out which paint-ballers were behind the attack.

One RCMP officer and two members of Yellowknife's municipal enforcement division showed up at the sandpits. RCMP Const. Roxanne Dreilich said officers were looking into the attack. Charges had not been laid by yesterday afternoon.

Hart said she would like to see criminal charges filed against the people behind the attack. While paintball guns are legal, there are restrictions on what they can be used for. Firing at people could constitute assault with a weapon under the Criminal Code.

"They should not be in that area," said Hart, talking about the popular area of the sandpits near the highway. "It's not fair. They shouldn't be allowed to walk around and shoot people."

Pisz said his horses use the sandpits almost every day, and while they are sometimes harassed by teens on dirt bikes, they have never been attacked with paintballs.

"It's a hobby," Pisz said of the war games. "But you cannot put people's lives in danger."