Firefighters called after pony falls into canal
An unlucky mare has been rescued from a canal after falling off a towpath with her rider.
Firefighters from Leamington and an animal rescue unit from Rugby were called to Grand Union Canal on 17 June after receiving reports of the accident.
Coloured pony Soda had slipped off the towpath of the Offchurch Greenway canal.
She and her rider then fell into the water.
The rider was not injured and was able to get out of the canal, but Soda struggled to climb the bank.
“It is thanks to her rider’s quick response and with the help of crews that Soda was safely pulled out of the water by a harness,” said a spokesman for Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service.
“This is just one of the ways we are working to help keep our residents and animals of Warwickshire safe.”
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Soda is not the pony to have been rescued from a watery situation by firefighters this year.
In February, horseandhound.co.uk reported that crews in Cheshire had been called to a canal in Sandbach, where they found a pony standing in the water by the bank.
A team from Sandbach Fire Station and the animal rescue unit from Knutsford attended and helped to lift the pony, named Babe, to safety.
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“Two of us put dry suits on and went into the water,” firefighter Erdal Cankaya told H&H.
They placed some special sheets along the side of the canal where Babe was standing to protect him from any sharp edges.
Firefighters then put straps underneath the pony and enlisted the help of a forklift truck to carefully lift him out of the steep-sided canal to safety.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.