Fire crews were called to a garden in Hanbury, near Droitwich on Monday (28 November), after a young showjumper leaped out of his field and into a disused swimming pool.
Three-year-old Louis, who had been turned away after backing this summer, was grazing with six other horses when he decided to jump the 4ft fence into the neighbouring garden.
Unfortunately he managed to slip into a deep steep-sided pond and his owner, Caroline Webley, who lives a mile away, had to call the fire brigade to get him out.
“He was standing up to his chest in cold, algae-filled water,” she said, “and there was no way of getting him out.”
A crew form Kidderminster pumped out the water and steps were made out of bales so the youngster could be led out.
“He has not gone back into that field,” said Caroline. “Luckily we had the vet on the yard vetting a horse so he checked Louis over and we’ve kept him in for a couple of days to keep an eye on him.
“But I put him out today in a field close to the house and he seems fine.”
She said the man, in whose pool Louis took his unexpected swim, told her he often fed the horses apples and carrots so she thinks Louis saw him and jumped the fence in search of a titbit.
Louis is a home-bred, out of Caroline’s Grade A showjumper mare.
