A HORSE had to be rescued after it got stuck in a ditch underneath a footbridge in Hampshire last night.

Crews from Redbridge and Lyndhurst and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Animal Rescue Unit were sent to Beechwood Road in Bartley in the New Forest after the horse got stuck at about 8pm.

A spokesman from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said the horse had fallen off the bridge and “got wedged underneath as it tried to right itself”.

It took crews more than four hours to sedate the animal, remove the footbridge and rescue the horse.

It is believed the animal was uninjured but was treated by vets afterwards.