Walkers help save drowning horses with their dog leads

Three horses were saved from drowning in a flooded field near Watford by quick-thinking dog walkers on Tuesday 10 January 2012.

The walkers discovered the three struggling horses, as well as one other who had unfortunately already drowned, on land owned by the Woodland Trust in Bushey at around 8.40am.

The walkers used dog leads to keep the horses afloat in the large pool of water created by a burst underground pipe until emergency services arrived on scene.

Firefighters pulled the three surviving horses out of the muddy water by fixing harnesses around the animals and directing them safely to solid ground.

Watch commander Dave Elliott from Watford fire station, told the Watford Observer that one walker had to hold the head of a horse up to stop it from drowning whilst firefighters made their way to the scene.

He continued: “They were in a very bad state. If the member of the public had not been there they would have drowned.”

As reported by the Watford Observer, workmen from Veolia Water, owners of the burst pipe, were on site on Tuesday morning trying to stop the flooding.

Source: Watford Observer

Photo: William Murphy