Horse Hits Car - Driver Awarded $900,000

This occured in Australia. I found the wording strange-- "car was hit by a horse"... "horse fell on moving car..."-- then I re-read it, and apparently the poor escaped horse was hit by a car, and landed on the lady's car.

"...A $900,000 payout to a Ballan woman who was seriously injured when a
horse fell on the bonnet of her moving car has been confirmed by the Court of
Appeal. Sherilee Meech, now 30, suffered a fractured skull, loss of vision
in her left eye, partial vision in her right eye and loss of hearing in one ear
when her car was hit by a horse..."

"A County Court jury found the horse's owner, Samantha McLean, and
her parents' company, AD and SM McLean Pty Ltd, which owns the vineyard where
the horse was agisted, had been negligent in allowing the horse to escape."

source: http://www.thecourier.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=446864&category=General%20News&m=12&y=2005

The story doesn't mention if the horse lived or not, but I doubt it. But it brings up an interesting question.
Do you think that if a horse escapes, it is the owner's fault? I would say yes if the owners leave gates open, have poor fencing, etc.-- but accidents can happen and a frightened horse can break out of even good fencing.