Firefighters to the rescue after horse drops in on neighbours' swimming pool in Northamptonshire village

Firefighters used a bit of animal magic to coax a loose horse called Wizard out of an empty swimming pool in a Northamptonshire village.

The gee-gee was less than OK after finding his way into a property in Grendon from an adjacent paddock, then winding up in the shallow end of an empty five-foot deep pool at lunchtime on Thursday (February 3).

Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue's specialist animal rescue team quickly made sure Wizard came to no harm, building a makeshift ladder out of pallets and persuading the naughty nag out with carrots, sugar lumps and hay.

An NFRS spokesman said: "Watch Managers Ben Stone and Phil Jones came up with a plan with the owners of both the horse and the property, constructing a stairway from some old pallets and slowly luring Wizard out.

"A vet was on stand-by to help if Wizard got distressed but he stayed calm."

The NFRS animal rescue squad based at Wellingborough helps out hundreds of animals each year — often with the help of a Unimog truck.

The five-seater, all-wheel drive, all-terrain beast weighs in at a whopping 14 tonnes and is as effective a machine as it comes in covering the Northamptonshire countryside.

Watch manager, Russ Thorne, said: “A big reason we have it is because of its off-road capabilities. Not many brigades have one, especially not for animal rescue like we do.

"On the back of it we have the crane which we can use to lift animals that are stuck on their sides or submerged in mud or in rivers or trenches.

“It will pretty much go anywhere off-road. It works in all conditions, so flood water, icy roads, snow, you name it. Most of the rescues we attend will be on farms, so we need that off-road capability and it means we can go pretty much anywhere without getting stuck. It’s not the quickest of appliances, but once it's there it's brilliant.”

Such is the reliability of the crew and the Mercedes-Benz-built Unimog, they are frequently called to neighbouring counties to help with animal rescues.

Russ added: “The facilities we have are excellent and we’re trained to a high standard.

“We’ve had an animal rescue unit here for some time, so we have knowledge and experience.

“Every year we evolve. We extend our training, the guys get more experience and we get better and better.

"Any county that is struggling can call upon us, and I think we’re one of the best in the country at what we do.”