Horror as couple are attacked by swarm of around 30,000 bees who kill their two horses

Kristen Beauregard, 44, was stung about 200 times and her boyfriend around 50 times as the insects chased and followed them in Pantego, north Texas

The bees are being tested to see whether they are Africanized or "killer" bees. It is unclear what prompted them to leave the hive. (GETTY IMAGES)

A swarm of around 30,000 bees attacked a couple in Texas as they exercised their miniature horses, stinging the animals so many times they died.

Kristen Beauregard, 44, was stung about 200 times and her boyfriend around 50 times as the insects chased and followed them in Pantego, north Texas.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Kristen Beauregard had noticed bees near her home and had tried in vain to get rid of them.

On Wednesday evening, as she was exercising one of her two miniature horses, thousands of bees attacked her and her boyfriend. According to reports the horses, Chip and Trump, were so covered in bees they shimmered. Neither could be saved.

“They were chasing us down, they were following us,” Beauregard told the newspaper. “We swept up piles and piles of them. ... It was like a bad movie.”

Firefighters were forced to spray a foam substance to clear the bees before dragging the minature horses to a pasture. Chip. the 6-year-old show horse died before a veterinarian arrived, and Trump, the Shetland pony, spent a night sedated at a veterinary clinic but also died.

"He was so overwhelmed by bites that his body could not handle it," equine veterinarian Patricia Tersteeg said.

"That's way too much for any 250-pound mammal to survive."

The bees are being tested to see whether they are Africanized or "killer" bees. It is unclear what prompted them to leave the hive.

Speaking of her horror following the incident Kristen Beauregard said: "It got all dark, like it was nighttime there were so many bees."

"We were trying stand up in the water but every time we stuck our heads out for air, they would cover us and start stinging us. We were trying to breathe and they were stinging us in the face and in the nose."

The bees also killed five hens, and stung the couple's dog.

Additional reporting by Associated Press