A crew of Firefighters from Oakham have been called to deal with two incidents involving horses this week, the most astonishing of these an incident in which a horse had to be rescued from a swimming pool.

After attending to a callout in Tilton on the Hill in which a horse was stuck earlier this week, Oakham Firefighters today, Friday 3 March, had to rescue a horse that had fallen into a family's swimming pool.

On arrival, the Incident Commander confirmed that one large male horse was in a family swimming pool, apparently having fallen through the pool cover thinking it was solid ground.

A vet attended the scene, and tranquillised the horse prior to it being harnessed and lifted out of the pool, to avoid stress and/or injury.

The team made use of mechanical farming equipment to aid the rescue of the animal, and used a light portable pump to empty the pool.

The Animal Rescue team formulated the plan to use a mechanical tele handler and harness to release horse from pool.

It appears that the horse wandered from a stable on the property and stumbled into the pool thinking the cover was solid ground. It has since been returned to the stable.