A huntsman used his horse as a "missile" to repeatedly barge a Somerset pensioner off her feet while she was filming his activities, a court was told.

Amateur whip Christopher Marles is accused of a "sustained and continuous" attack on 61-year-old Helen Weeks during a meet of the East Devon Hunt on March 29 last year.

Marles, 47, a farmer from Farringdon, Exeter, admits he assaulted Ms Weeks, who lives in West Coker near Yeovil, on the basis that his horse accidentally made contact with her and knocked her over during the confrontation. But he denies that he purposely manoeuvred the animal in a repeated attempt to cause her harm, and says the steed only made contact on one occasion.

Yesterday, he publicly apologised to Ms Weeks and her colleague Graham Forsyth, who also fell into a ditch during the assault at Lower Burraton near Whimple, East Devon.

But Ms Weeks, a monitor for the League Against Cruel Sports, which films hunts to gather evidence of illegal activity, claims he intentionally "backed up" the horse after the first attack, to build up momentum for the second and third strikes. She told Exeter magistrates, who must establish whether the attack was deliberate, that Marles approached her on horseback as she was standing between two vehicles, filming.

"The next thing I knew his horse's muzzle had hit my shoulder," she said. "It knocked me straight into the ditch."

The court was shown video footage of the hunt monitors remonstrating with the huntsmen, and as the horse repeatedly moved around the narrow lane, a visibly distressed Ms Weeks fell twice more.

Her colleague Mr Forsyth, who also shot some footage of the incident, told the court Marles used the horse as a "missile". He said: "Helen was shocked and she was shaken. I think she felt violated. She was out doing something she really cares about, and she was subjected to this sort of attack. It wasn't just a slap or a knock, it was sustained and continuous. There didn't seem to be any end to it."

During the incident, which lasted about two minutes, the court was told, Marles was heard to say the horse, called Whisper, was "wild", and then to say "lovely – he loves you". Mr Forsyth said he believed Marles was blaming the horse for his own actions.

But the defendant told the court he was not a bully. He admitted that he was "reckless", and his horse was too close to Ms Weeks, but insisted the contact was accidental. He apologised to both monitors, and said: "My horse struck her on the shoulder, and I apologise for that, but it wasn't intentional."

He highlighted the tensions between hunters and monitors, saying he had ridden towards the pair to try to block them from filming. He said video footage could be misrepresented, and that the East Devon hunt had been legally trail hunting that day.

Marles, who claims he has not ridden out with the hunt since the incident, said: "As far as I'm concerned, all they are trying to do is catch us out doing something that we occasionally do by default."

Prosecutor Mark Haddow saidthe incident was a "classic assault in unusual circumstances". He said: "Whether you are on top of a horse or in a bar, if you commit an assault, you commit an assault."

The hearing has been adjourned until February 11, when it will conclude in Honiton Magistrates' Court.