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Gelding has lucky escape from muddy ditch


  • A grey gelding had a lucky escape from a muddy ditch earlier this week (7 March).

    The horse, named Boomer, was grazing in his field in Charlwood, Surrey, when his foot got caught in a ditch.

    As he tried to free himself, he slipped into the ditch and became trapped.

    His owner found him stuck and called firefighters to the field in Charlwood Road.

    A crew of eight arrived at the field accompanied by a vet.

    “Fire services were called at 12.45pm on Monday afternoon,” a spokesman for Surrey Fire and Rescue told H&H.

    “They sent two fire engines and a specialist team to rescue the horse. The owner was in attendance.”

    It took an hour and a half to pull Boomer from the ditch using a specialist vehicle.

    Boomer was unharmed in the ordeal.

    “He was fine, he managed to carry on without having to go to the vets,” added the spokesman.

    Credit: Surrey Fire and Rescue

    Credit: Surrey Fire and Rescue

    Dramatic rescue

    Last month (24 February), horseandhound.co.uk reported that firefighters had helped rescue a horse trapped in a horsebox.

    Equo ambassador Ali Dane had arrived at Summerhouse Equestrian Centre, Glos, on when the accident happened.

    Miss Sandro “Legs” (pictured, below) had tried to jump over a partition towards the living area of the four-horse lorry and was “completely stuck”.

    ali dane legs

    “As she is 17.3hh, there was not much space to move,” said Ali. “She was panicking quite a lot.”

    Bystanders in the lorry park had already called the fire service and vet Clare Smith, who was competing at the event, quickly grabbed some sedatives to give to the mare.

    Gloucester Fire and Rescue Service sent crews from Gloucester North and Gloucester South, including their large animal rescue team.


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    “They were fantastic,” said Ali. “They completely sealed off the whole area so nobody could park nearby to keep it as quiet as possible.”

    Firefighters cut the partition to free the horse, who was wearing travel boots and bandages and escaped with superficial cuts and a haematoma.

    “I cannot imagine what would have happened had we not had that level of care from the fire service, who were trained in animal rescue,” added Ali.

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