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Firefighters cut roof off horsebox to free horse trapped on breast bar


  • A two-year-old horse had to be cut from a horsebox by firefighters after he became stuck while trying to jump over a partition.

    The bay had become wedged on top of a fixed breast bar in the rear-facing small lorry and could only be removed by cutting the roof off the box.

    Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) were called to the scene at a yard in Isle Lane near Bicton in Shrewsbury at around 8.45am on Tuesday (17 July).

    The horse, called Moo, was sedated by a vet from Stretton Hills Veterinary Practice before he was lifted to safety by a crew of SFRS’s trained large animal rescue specialists.

    In a statement, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews released Moo safely by cutting away the roof and lifting the sedated Moo out of the box with our rescue tender.

    “After letting Moo regain feeling in his legs, he was released from the harness and escorted into a nearby field where he’s now recovering.”

    Moo was reported to be doing well after his ordeal, which lasted more than an hour and a half.

    A spokesman for SFRS said it was one of the few fire and rescue services in the country which has a dedicated large animal rescue team.

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    “Shropshire is a largely rural county with a lot of equestrian interest, so it’s not an uncommon experience for us,” he told H&H.

    “We rescue horses from a variety of situations, and even have a large wooden horse we use in training.”

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