A vicious, unprovoked dog attack on two teenage girls and their horses left the pair injured and terrified.

Amelia Palmer, 16, and Katie Higgins, 15, had been riding their horses Tinka and Sapphire, across the Wye Downs when they were attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier.

Amelia, from Hawkinge, said: "The dog was literally hanging off Tinka’s nose. Katie jumped off and was beating it with her stick to get it to let go. It then went for Tinka’s belly and Katie grabbed it as it jumped up."

Warning: graphic images below

Brave Katie, from Wye, eventually managed to pull the dog off, but it had already punctured Amelia’s leg and Tinka’s nose.

Amelia added: "The owners didn’t do much to attempt to control the dog. They were just stood there shouting at it but it was completely out of control."

The girls, who have both been riding for about 10 years, dismounted their horses and checked their wounds.

VIDEO: The dog owners were confronted on camera.

They confronted the owners – a man and a woman – who denied the dog had done anything wrong.

Luckily, a quick-thinking passerby caught the pair on camera in the aftermath of the attack and the man can be seen holding the dog by the harness.

Amelia had to go to hospital to have a tetanus jab and get the deep wound on her leg treated, while both horses needed to be treated by vets for their injuries.

Bindy Higgins , Katie’s mum, said: “It’s terrifying. But I’m very proud of the girls because they coped very well.

“I don’t know whether to be angry at Katie for dragging the dog off because of what it could have done or proud of her for handling it so bravely.”

Shockingly, when the girls turned away to get plasters for their wounds, the owners quickly disappeared.

Bindy added: "I have dogs and if that had been my dog, I would have stayed with the girls and made sure they were okay but the fact that they were denying the dog had attacked them and then disappeared is awful.

"Luckily the kids were calm and handled the situation very well but I’m angry that they had no regard for the kids and their horses.

"I would never want a dog to be destroyed for the wrong reasons but if people are going to have a dog then they have to understand their dog’s temperaments. You have to take responsibility for your dog.

"We have a large vets bill to cover now so I’m hoping the police have taken this seriously and will do something to find the owners."

Sunday's attack comes as it's revealed Kent Police responded to almost 600 dog attack incidents last year alone.

If you have information about the attack, contact police on 101.