An owner is warning others to take care when travelling horses after her gelding became trapped trying to jump into the storage area of her horsebox.
Lancashire-based Nicola Pilkington was taking her four-year-old gelding Archie to a water treadmill session when the accident happened earlier this month (15 May).
Ms Pilkington was leaving the yard near Clitheroe at 10.30am when she heard a loud bang from inside the box.
When she pulled up on the driveway and let down the ramp she found Archie stuck over the partition with his front legs in the storage area.
“I was so scared — it was horrendous,” Ms Pilkington told H&H.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Ms Pilkington’s friend called the fire brigade who arrived 20 minutes later with a vet.
“By the time they arrived he’d panicked and got himself even further in. He almost knocked the whole thing over,” she said.
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Archie was sedated by the vet and firefighters worked
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
for an hour to cut the partition from underneath the 17hh Irish gelding.
They then slowly walked him out of the horsebox to safety.
“He had a cut to his head that needed stitches from banging it on the back window and superficial cuts to his legs,” added Ms Pilkington.
“He was back to his normal self the day after — he was very lucky.”
Ms Pilkington is now warning others to take care.
“The other horse was fine, but it only takes something to spook them and then they panic,” she added. “Perhaps a collapsable bar is an answer.”
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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.
