‘I heard a massive splash’: horse falls into river after rider unseated

The owner of a 21-year-old mare who was winched to safety after hours stuck in a river has praised those who came to her aid, adding: “She would have died without them”.

Shannon-Leigh Sweeney fell when her appaloosa Magenta spooked on a hack on Easter Monday, and the mare slid down the bank and into the river. She was rescued by crews from Cambridgeshire Fire & Rescue Service.

“It’s not until you use a service like this that you know how much they’re needed,” Shannon-Leigh told H&H. “It’s awful to think but if they had said ‘We don’t deal with that sort of thing’, she would have died.”

Shannon-Leigh said she was about half a mile from home when a pony in a field came “cantering over to say hello” to Magenta.

“She decided she didn’t want to say hello, and spun round,” she said. “She ended up on the verge and as it was quite wet, her back end slipped down the bank sideways. All I heard was a massive splash as she hit the water – and then I saw her swimming.

“I’d come off at the top of the bank; if anything had got caught, I’d have gone down with her as she couldn’t save herself.”

Shannon-Leigh called her mum, and then 999, and within 10 to 15 minutes, crews from Peterborough and Wisbech were on the scene.

“They were a godsend,” Shannon-Leigh said. “As stressed as we were, they were calm and knew exactly what to do and when to do it. It’s one of the best services I’ve ever witnessed.”

Shannon-Leigh said the river is in parts so deep, her brother who is over six feet tall was unable to touch the bottom when they once swam in it. Magenta also had to swim.

“Where they caught her, the bank was so steep they couldn’t walk her out,” Shannon-Leigh said. “They found a less steep bit but by then she was just exhausted.”

Eventually, under veterinary supervision and with Magenta sedated, the crews used strops and lifting machinery to free her.

“The first thing she did was eat grass!” Shannon-Leigh said. “I was worried about hypothermia but she’s happy as Larry now. The vet followed us back, I put her in her stable and she ate her dinner like nothing had happened.”

Shannon-Leigh said she and her mother are now planning some fundraising events in aid of the fire service.

“I felt so helpless, standing there watching her shaking; it was an awful feeling but it ended the best way it could have done,” she said. “Every penny counts so we’re going to get some ideas together to help them as she would have died without them.”

A spokesman for the fire service said: “It was a happy ending as crews specially trained in animal rescues used strops and lifting machinery from local company Ratcliffes, under the supervision of a vet, to get Magenta back on the bank and reunited with her relieved owner again.”

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