Teenager and horse rescued from river by firefighters

A horse and rider were saved from drowning in the River Wansbeck in Northumberland was saved by firefighters.

A teenage rider and her horse had plummeted into the fast flowing river on Thursday July 24 when the horse lost its footing.

The rider was cradling the horse’s head out of the water to keep it from drowning, when firefighters from Cramlington and Morpeth fire stations arrived on the scene.

Cramlington station officer Bruce Black said: “The rider, who’d been injured by the fall when the horse fell on her, was holding the horse’s head to keep it above the water.

“The horse was stressed and cold. We called a vet who entered the water to administer painkillers. We had to attach a winch to the overhanging trees to lift the horse clear of the mud but it kept collapsing back in.

“It took over two hours to get it out. Firefighters were in the water the whole time.”

Firefighters and paramedics treated the girl at the scene. Both rider and horse are well.

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