A HORSE with severe arthritis was rescued by firefighters following a fall in a barn in Thornton Hough.

Claudia, 32, a rescue horse at Horse Sense Wirral had slipped and fallen in the night and couldn’t get back up due to her arthritis.

Crews followed by two specialist teams came and helped rescue the horse from the field in Thornton Hough.

Lecturer in Equine Clinical Skills and vet at Leahurst Equine Practice Luke Edwards advised volunteers that as this is Claudia’s second fall it will be best to keep her out in the field with a friend and a warm rug so that she always has traction underneath her to get back up after a roll or snooze.

The decision has also been made for her to have daily painkillers for her arthritis. Andrea Stanfield from Horse Sense Wirral said: “We have a lot of people to thank for their help as it took more than two hours of pure man power to get Claudia to her feet.

“We would like to thank our volunteers Alex Duke, Tamzin Furtado and Alex Allen for staying with Claudia throughout, Stuart Jones for helping ringing round for a local forklift and to Craig Argyle, who although he couldn’t get his machinery in to the barn, still came and assisted with some potential ideas, thank you to several of our volunteers who came to help take care of the other residents while we were with Claudia and later on in the day to help catch up on jobs.

“We are really lucky to have Merseyside Fire and Rescue at our service who very swiftly had the closest fire crew to us, closely followed by two specialist crews based in Liverpool who are fully trained in large animal rescue, I can’t speak highly enough of them.

“Ben and Luke from the wonderful Leahurst Equine Practice, whilst they are amazing vets anyway, the fact that they spend so much time here and personally knew Claudia was very beneficial.”

The charity is hoping to raise funds to help cover Claudia’s vet bill, which is thought to be in the region of £300.

For more information on how to donate call Leahurst on 0151 794 6199 and ask for Debbie or Nicky and visit www.horsesensewirral.com.