Horse stuck in empty pool saved with carrots and sugar

A horse in England recently found itself in a precarious situation: stuck in an empty swimming pool.

The horse, known as Wizard, had wandered onto the property in Grendon, England, after smashing its way through a broken gate in an adjacent field.

According to the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, officials from Moulton and Wellingborough were called to the property at 12:33 p.m. local time on February 3 and saw Wizard inside the empty 4-foot-9 pool. The wizard just couldn’t escape the pool on his own.

According to a statement, animal rescue technicians, including lifeguards Ben Stone and Phil Jones, “formulated a plan with the horse and property owner” to get Wizard out of the pool.

The team would have built a staircase from old pallets and slowly lured the horse using carrots, hay and sugar cubes.

“A vet was on hand to provide assistance if Wizard became distressed, but since the horse remained calm, they did not need Wizard to be sedated,” officials said.

This is not the first time officials in Northamptonshire have had to save animals. Wellingborough Fire Department crews regularly carry out such missions.

“We will mostly see livestock incidents, although it ranges from rescuing a cat to large cows, sheep and pigs,” said Russ Thorne, the station’s white watchman. “There’s no limit to the type of rescue we’re involved in; it’s very versatile.”

And they do it with the help of a 14-tonne, five-seater machine called UNIMOG, which has been used in 113 rescue missions in 2020 alone.

This is one of the reasons why local crew members are often called upon to help in nearby towns and villages.

“A big reason why we have [the UNIMOG] is because of its off-road capabilities,” Thorne said. “Few brigades have one, especially not for animal rescue like we do. In the back we have the crane, with which we can lift animals stuck on their side or immersed in mud or in rivers or trenches.

“It works in all conditions, so flood water, icy roads, snow, etc. it gets stuck. It’s not the fastest of devices, but once it’s there it’s brilliant.

The team on site Thursday credited Wizard’s “calm nature” for his ability to get out of the pool without using the UNIMOG or any other machinery. The entire ordeal lasted about 45 minutes and officials left the scene shortly after 1:30 p.m.

Horse rescues are not uncommon in the United States.

Just today, WSB-TV 2 reported that a large draft horse lay on the ground in a temporary pasture on the side of a hill in Cherokee County, Georgia. The horse was successfully rescued.

Newsweek contacted the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service for comment.