Oxfordshire Ambulance Service managers have been described as a disgrace to their profession after breaking a promise to provide cover for a charity horse show.

The organisers of the Cholsey and Moulsford Horse and Dog Show booked an ambulance and crew more than seven months ago to provide medical cover.

Despite repeated assurances that paramedics would be present, the organisers were forced to go ahead without them because the service was unable to provide a crew.

Saturday's show, which raised money for the Douglas House Hospice and the Home of Rest for Horses, attracted 150 riders and 300 spectators to Manor Farm, Cholsey, near Wallingford.

Organisers had booked the ambulance crew to treat riders in the event of a fall. Five days before the event, one of the organisers, Liz Cockman, had received confirmation that paramedics would attend, and arranged more than £500 for eight hours cover.

On the day, she was told no crew could be found.

She said: "I was so angry and felt dreadfully let down. They are an absolute disgrace to their profession. We probably shouldn't have gone ahead with the show, but we had 150 riders and they would have been upset and angry if we had cancelled it.

"It's a dangerous sport and I didn't want to hold the show without one. If someone has a nasty fall you need someone there who knows what to do.

"Oxfordshire Ambulance Service offered us a full paramedic service and confirmed five days earlier that they would be coming.

No one at Oxfordshire Ambulance Service was available for comment.