Escapee Elvis and his companion Alfie end up in deep water *PICTURES*
A “hapless” pair of escaped cobs have made a full recovery after being rescued from a swimming pool in Dorset earlier this month (11 October).
The coloured horses, named Elvis and Alfie, broke free from their field and fell into the water.
Firefighters were called to the pool in Factory Lane, Duntish, near Sherborne, by the horses’ owner Roison Tallbott.
Fifteen crew members worked to free the horses, who were sedated by vet Peter Sclater of Sclater Equine Horse Vet.
“With the grass being greener on the other side of the fence, the pair of juveniles escaped their field overnight,” he said.
“When Roisin, a new mum with a 10-week-old baby, went to check on them, she found them grazing happily in her garden. With further merriment in mind they rounded the bend in the garden and found themselves faced with the swimming pool.
“Alfie, the larger skewbald chap, somewhat unwisely decided to make his escape via the swimming pool — perhaps the duck weed may have played a part in his decision. He made a large leap and splashed into the pool’s deep end where he paddled furiously to stay afloat.”
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Elvis is believed to have fallen into the pool while trying to stay near his fieldmate.
Roisin managed to get head collars on the pair and lead them to the shallow end before they were lifted to safety.
“An animal rescue crew from Poole worked with a retained crew from Sherborne to free the horses using rescue strops and an animal slider board,” said a spokesman from Dorset Fire and Rescue Service.
“After cutting away a significant section of undergrowth and shrubbery to make access, the crews worked with a vet to sedate the horses before safely removing them from the pool.”
The horses were taken back to their field and are recovering well.
Roisin shared her gratitude to the rescuers on the fire services’ Facebook page.
“This still has me in tears, ” she wrote. “Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart. I don’t know what I would’ve done if anything bad had happened to them.”
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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.