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Upside down horse pulled out of ditch

7:49pm Tuesday 9th February 2010 in


Fire services had to hoist an upside down horse out of a ditch today.

The animal got into difficulty in a field in Court Lodge Farm, Brownbread Street, Ashburnham.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue were called at 1.23pm and spent almost two hours trying to free it.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: “It was upside down in the ditch.

"We have an animal rescue unit which used hoists to pull it free.

“It was eventually pulled clear at around 3.10pm and left with the owner.”

A vet attended the incident.

Comments(16)

TheInsider says...
8:13pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Was it Andre Spooner's trusty steed?

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sussexone says...
8:21pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Was it a woman rider? lol! poor joke!

Or maybe too many vodkas at the Horse n Hoof before trotting off home?

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Christophe Hawtree says...
8:22pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Has Councillor Smith enacted a terrible revenge for the time, evocatively described, that Mr. Spooner and his Mighty Horse felled him in the duel to which the Councillor, to no avail, brought a subversive ostrich as his second?

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Nyberg says...
8:36pm Tue 9 Feb 10

It just has to be dear Andre and his Mighty Horse.
I warned him in a posting the weekend to make sure that his Mighty Horse was properly shod for these icy conditions. I suggested a set of croutons, and a fellow poster a set of futons.
Seems our advice was to no avail....
I trust they are both ok.

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Patrick Mustard says...
9:35pm Tue 9 Feb 10

If Mr Spooner had heeded my advice to put his 'boots-on' then this tricky situation would have been avoided.

Unfortunately 'Jo Wadsworth' is too keen to focus on newsworthy items such as where local councillors have parked their cars and what John Terry is up to, rather than deal with tricky horse related issues.

This would never have happened when Sam Relph was in charge

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charq says...
10:20pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Seems the bubble wrap jacket disorientated Spooner's steed. Or perhaps it was already an upside down horse and just decided to pass an afternoon in a ditch.

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Tammy Flugh says...
12:01am Wed 10 Feb 10

It can't have been Katie Price, She's abroad

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birthofanorange says...
10:39am Wed 10 Feb 10

I saw an upside down cake in a shop and no one lifted a finger to help. Where were the emergency services then?

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Roger Hills says...
11:29am Wed 10 Feb 10

Where are the photos? I don't believe it without a photo.;)

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Andre Spooner says...
12:43pm Wed 10 Feb 10

I would like to reassure everyone here that both me and my Mighty Horse are unhurt after this most distressing incident, and we would like to thank East Sussex Fire and Rescue, particularly Captain Edward Ashburnham, for their daring and essential role in helping my poor Mighty Horse out of the ditch. Thank you for all your kind messages.

It was neither the invisible hand of David Smith nor the lack of snow-boots on my dear Mighty Horse's mighty feet that caused this stumble - we were riding along by Court Lodge Farm when a passing bee deposited some pollen from his leg-bag into the nose of my Mighty Horse. His sneeze was so tremendous that we tumbled into the ditch. Thankfully all is well. I have not been able to identify the troublesome bee.

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Brigadier Monty says...
12:53pm Wed 10 Feb 10

Glad to hear the mighty horse are alive and well, I look forward to meeting you awesome stallion when I am roaming the Sussex Wield at dusk, hunting and foraging for those elusive blackberry's. I do it at Dusk to remain unseen and because during the day there is stiff competition. At night it's tricky to the goblins and ghosts. I had to fight one off with only a lantern to hand and a goblet full of ale. It was an epic battle, deep in the wilderness of the Sussex downs.

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Gaz the great says...
3:10pm Wed 10 Feb 10

Well done ESF&R, a good job by what i've read.

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Christophe Hawtree says...
3:56pm Wed 10 Feb 10

Andre Spooner wrote:
I would like to reassure everyone here that both me and my Mighty Horse
are unhurt after this most distressing incident, and we would like to
thank East Sussex Fire and Rescue, particularly Captain Edward
Ashburnham, for their daring and essential role in helping my poor
Mighty Horse out of the ditch. Thank you for all your kind messages. It
was neither the invisible hand of David Smith nor the lack of
snow-boots on my dear Mighty Horse's mighty feet that caused this
stumble - we were riding along by Court Lodge Farm when a passing bee
deposited some pollen from his leg-bag into the nose of my Mighty
Horse. His sneeze was so tremendous that we tumbled into the ditch.
Thankfully all is well. I have not been able to identify the
troublesome bee.
Mr Spooner's turning of the place name Ashburnham into a fireman called Captain Edward Ashburnham suggests that he is a keen reader of Ford Madox Ford.

Which must make him a disappointed visitor to the Jubilee Library.

Perhaps Councillor Smith will offer us a view of Ford.

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puddingandpi says...
3:59pm Wed 10 Feb 10

By the gods, horses are thick!

Well done everyone though, glad The Mighty Steed is ok.

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Christophe Hawtree says...
4:54pm Wed 10 Feb 10

It is certainly a far cry from The Horse Whisperer but I am not so sure that horses are "thick", and I might even suspect that the bee story is a diversion from the possibility that Mr Spooner was reciting aloud from the works of Ford Madox Ford, and, as a result, was either not looking where he was riding or the Mighty Horse was so taken by Ford's sonmorous prose that it overlooked the ditch, with the consequences we all know.

Perhaps Councillor Smith will address the next Council meeting on Ford changing his surname from Hueffer.

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puddingandpi says...
5:47pm Wed 10 Feb 10

Take it from me, 36 years of riding & working with them professionally, they *are* thick.

Especially Shire horses.

The last thing you want is a horse that thinks because they're dangerous. They think they know better & end up upside down in ditches.

I always give generously to ESF&R & the air ambulance because I know that there but for the grace of the gods..!

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