Rider feared horse would die after sinking drama (From Daily Echo)

Rider feared horse would die after sinking drama

12:25pm Tuesday 14th August 2012 in News By Patrick Knox, Senior Reporter

SHE thought she was losing her beloved horse before her very eyes.

Victoria Wood was riding her beloved Molly in the New Forest when she moved off the road to avoid a lorry.

Within seconds they were both sinking fast in a hidden bog which was 30ft deep.

The 18-year-old from Calmore described how her heart sank as she and Molly went straight under the surface.

“I wanted to pinch myself and wake up from this horrible nightmare,” she said.

“My first reaction was to scream and I screamed as loud as I possibly could.”

That alerted a woman who was walking her dog. She came over and phoned the emergency services.

Meanwhile, Victoria managed to pull her feet out of the stirrups and escape before trying to free Molly.

She said: “I tried to help pull her legs up to the surface too but her legs were in too deep. “She was panicking and tried to get out but she tired quickly.

“I then stood in the bog with her trying to keep her head above the surface and talking to her trying to reassure her with my voice.

“I couldn’t stop crying. I thought I was going to lose her – and that would have been like losing my world.”

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service dispatched its specialist Animal Rescue Unit, based at Lyndhurst fire station.

Jim Green, who was leading the team, said the spot near Bramshaw, a conservation area near Cadnam, which he said was riddled with deep bogs which are not easy to spot.

He said: “The first thing we did was to move the young girl away from the horse because we wanted the animal to calm down.

“They can sense how the owner is feeling and if they panic and move around they sink deeper.”

The rescue team held the horse’s head back and tried to calm her while a vet arrived to sedate her ready to pull her free with a hoist.

Luckily for Molly she was lying in a diagonal position which has stopped her from sinking too far and with a sudden burst of energy she helped herself free.

Victoria said: “We were both covered head to toe in thick mud, but that didn’t matter. I couldn’t stop hugging her and holding her.

“She had a few cuts and grazes and was stiff in her legs but nothing major. She was very lucky.”