THREE horses were set free from their enclosure by vandals -- and one was badly injured.

The vandals broke into grounds owned by the El Nino children's charity and slashed the tyres on a four-wheel drive vehicle before setting the horses free.

A young horse suffered injuries to its chest and legs when it bolted towards a fence.

The wrecking spree has cast doubt on a summer trip scheduled for the end of August since the attack on the charity-owned 4x4 vehicle has left bosses at the charity with a repair bill of around £1,000.

The vehicle is not covered by insurance and a trip to Garstang for 24 children next month is in jeopardy.

Charity co-ordinator Susan Gutierrez said: "It was a disgusting thing to do and comes as a big blow at our busiest time of year.

"It puts a summer camp trip into doubt because we basically have no transport and it's caused a young horse some quite serious injuries which will mean it might not be able to compete in competitions this summer that the children have been working towards."

One of the charity's cats, Taz, has been missing since the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning, leading charity workers to fear it, too, could be hurt.

The charity, off Taylor's Lane, Breightmet, works with around 300 youngsters who have behavioural problems from across the borough each year.

A police spokesman confirmed they were investigating the incident.

Mrs Gutierrez added: "We try to give them a stable atmosphere and this will be very difficult to explain to them.

"We use the vehicle to pick kids up who won't be able to get here otherwise and it's really thrown us into turmoil."