Mare and foal stuck

IT WAS the Fire and Rescue people that had to rescue a mare and her two days old foal from the rising tide on the tidal Thames.

The young foal had wandered on to the mud yesterday morning (10th July) after the tide had receded at Gravesend, and was unable to free itself after sinking in the soft mud, with the mare then joining her, Alan Tilbury reveals.

Just in time

Luckily they were spotted, with the emergency service alerted, that was able to rescue the stricken animals just in time before the rising tide made rescue impossible.

Various teams attended, with them laying inflatable mud paths to enable them to reach the horses, then using ropes and slings they managed to get the pair back on dry land, where a vet examined them, but found them no worse for their escapade.

Less than an hour

A spokesman for one of the teams told that they had less than an hour to get them off the mud before the rising tide made it impossible, and with the foal being only two days old it would have had little chance of survival.

It was people from the National Sea Training Centre who were on the nearby shore who spotted the foal in the mud and called the emergency services, but by the time they arrived, the mare had joined her young foal, with her then being very protective, not allowing the rescue people near.