Up, up and a-neigh as firefighters to the rescue of horse Monty in Shropshire field
Fire crews were called to a field in Shropshire to rescue a horse which had fallen over, and was unable to get up.
Poor Monty, a 20-year-old gelding, was found lying on his side in a field near Shifnal, and couldn't get back on his hooves.
Three fire crews spent two hours trying to coax the poor fellow off the ground, and eventually were forced to call in the big machines to make it happen.
Standing 17-hands high, Monty is above the average height for a thoroughbred horse, so crews had to put him in a harness and winch him off the ground.
Rescue tenders from Telford and Wellington were called to Ryton Road in Beckbury at about 2pm on Monday to help with the rescue. The animal rescue team spent two hours taking care of the horse, with a vet also in attendance in case he was found to be injured or unwell.
Monty was eventually returned to his upright position, with fire crews leaving at around 4pm.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue incident commander, Pete Hawkins, said the horse's owner had found it lying in an open field.
He said: "The owner thought the horse had probably been there all night and due to the horse being 20 years of age and suffering from some arthritis it had some difficulties getting back up after such a long time being off its feet. We sent resources to assist the vet and used a high ab crane with a specialist animal team to get the horse back on its feet.
"The horse was fine and we waited until the horse was steady before removing the crane."
"The owner then exercised the horse to get the blood back flowing into its legs."
