A horse has been rescued from a swimming pool in Northamptonshire.
The chestnut gelding, called Wizard, had broken out of his field and found himself trapped in the pool on 3 February.
Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the property in Grendon at 12.33pm. On arrival at the scene, crews from Moulton and Wellingborough found the gelding had entered an empty 1.5m deep pool and was unable to get out.
Animal Rescue Technicians, Watch Manager Ben Stone and Watch Manager Phil Jones formulated a plan with his owner and the owner of the property, to assist him out of the pool. Wizard remained calm despite his predicament.
The team constructed a stairway from old pallets and slowly lured Wizard out using carrots, hay and sugar lumps.
“A vet was on hand to provide assistance if Wizard became distressed, but as he remained calm, they did not require him to be sedated,” said a spokesman for Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.
“Large animal rescues can be quite challenging and dangerous due to the unpredictability of the animal. This is why the Fire Service have specially trained Animal Rescue Technicians and specialist equipment such as the Unimog [a specialist all-terrain vehicle].
“Due to the calm nature of the horse, crews were able to assist Wizard out of the pool without using any of their specialist equipment.”
It took around 45 mins to rescue Wizard and crews left the scene at just after 1.30 pm.
