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.”
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
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.
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”.
“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.
Related articles:
- Firefighters cut horse out of lorry in dramatic rescue
- Five-month-old foal rescued from muddy ditch
- Helicopters save horses in dramatic river rescues
“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.
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
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.