Horses which died in an arson attack will be remembered one year on from the tragedy.

In December last year, 12 horses died at Elmwood Equestrian Centre in Maldon Road, Burnham.

Now the owners of the horses will host a 9.5 mile ride from with hundreds of supporters.

Organiser Ciera Battson, 19, lost her horse Rex in the blaze.

She said: “We already have 330 people saying interested in attending the event.

“Hopefully more people will see from this that we have not forgotten what happened and we want to make sure people remember.

“Nobody has been caught yet and we wanted to raise awareness of what happened.

“We want to remember the horses always.

“We still have not really got over it, we just have to live with it.”

The event has been organised by Ciera, Grace Tredgold and Helen Waller.

Ciera and Helen rushed to the scene when the fire broke out on December 3.

Fire crews from Maldon, South Woodham Ferrers, Tillingham, Rayleigh Weir and Corringham were already at the scene, supported by members of the public to save the horses from the stables.

Essex Fire and Rescue Service later confirmed the incident was believed to be deliberate.

Around 70 horses were kept at the stables.

Following the incident, around 50 were left traumatised by the fire.

Flowers and tributes were left outside the stables in tribute to the dozen horses who lost their lives.

Recalling the moment, Ciera said: “I cannot say how I felt at the time without getting upset.

“Helen lost three horses and I loaned one of them from her.

“We had taken another one out at the time of the fire, so if we hadn’t taken the horse, they could have been lost too.”

The memorial ride which will see riders take a circuit around the area back to the centre will also be encouraging riders to donate to the Essex Horse and Pony Society.

The ride will start at 11am on Sunday, December 2.

To confirm you are attending, go to Facebook and search Elmwood Memorial Ride.