FIREFIGHTERS and a vet battled for three hours to save a terrified horse from drowning after it toppled into a ditch.
Crews described the rescue of former racehorse Willard as the most dangerous animal-related call-out they had ever had.
Willard panicked and started thrashing about after falling into a large water-filled ditch in the New Forest.
Willard was being ridden along a narrow wooden bridge near Cadnam when he toppled over the edge.
Rider Debbie Mockford, of Cadnam, was thrown clear and escaped uninjured when the accident happened at Half Moon Common, Furzley.
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