Firefighters rescue horse trapped on gate in Huntingdonshire farm

Firefighters rescued a horse trapped on a gate at a Huntingdonshire village on Sunday morning.

Crews from Gamlingay, Papworth and Huntingdon, including specially trained animal rescue firefighters, and a vet were sent to a farm in High Street, Yelling, at 10.40am.

Martin Ockenden, station commander, said: “This was an unusual rescue and our strategy was at first to calm the horse with a blanket over his head, cotton in his ears and someone close to and in control at the head. We used no radios, no hi-visibility jackets or machinery to keep the noise down.

“Hard protection (clear perspex shields) was used between the crews, while they worked, and the horses legs in case he thrashed, and a clear escape route to retreat if required was put in place.

“Crews simultaneously cut around him using hand powered pumps with the holmatro cutters to carefully remove the sections of the steel gate and sharp protection covered the cuts.

“This was a well executed, safe and successful release that took just over an hour and there were no identified injuries.

“We would always encourage animal owners, when faced with difficult situations like this, to do what this owner did and call the emergency services rather than attempt to rescue the animal themselves and potentially face being injured.”

Crews returned to their stations by 11.55am.