Horse falls through bridge!

Good god, I wonder if any of those people involved realise just how lucky they were that nobody was injured.
Thank heavens the fire service have better training these days!
 
What a stupid owner. 1. Who would ride over a rotten bridge?? 2. Who would scream like that and scare the life out of the other horse, anyone know if the grey was ok, they didnt show him walking..... and they didnt say horses were ok just riders and firecrew
 
It was a pretty hairy viewing, but I have to say, it amazes me how little empathy HHOers are showing here:confused::(
This girl was PETRIFIED, at the point she started screaming she was convinced her horse has just died, she lost the sight of it and nearly went down into the river herself :( I wonder how many of you would keep your cool and know exactly what to do:rolleyes:
She stops shouting as soon as she is told that the horse is OK.
You do have to remember that the poor firefighters were doing the best they could, too.
 
Just been watching this - how awful! Agree with Martlin though, although not the best course of action, the girl was clearly panicking as horse horse had fallen through and she thought it was dead/horrendously injured. I'm not sure I would have been able to keep my cool had it been me.

Also, it's not always easy to tell how sturdy a bridge is - if it's a wooden bridge on a bridlepath which you have used for years, maybe you wouldn't think twice about going across it? The presenter said it was dilapidated - she had the benefit of hindsight!

Glad everyone was ok though - it's good to know there are well trained professionals out there in case of emergency!
 
i saw it and agree im afraid with the best will in the world i would have been hysterical too .i am a very sensible knowledgable person and can cope with trauma and high risk situations at work but i know i would lose it ... did they know it was dilapidated as looks similar to a horse bridge that we use. if so plain stupid ,
 
I was more concerned about the amount of people in the clip who were putting themselves at risk than the girl screaming. She was obviously expecting the worst to have happened so I think she can be forgiven for wailing.
The incident commander is responsible for keeping everyone safe and in my opinion there were people in the clip who did not need to be standing where they were standing. Very dangerous.
 
MosMum said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b7f5c

I can't find it on youtube but its 30mins through this sequence. Its season 6, episode 8.
Click to expand...

Amazing how critical people can be. Many many years ago my friend and I tried to ride over a bridge once. We had no idea it was rotten. The planks looked thick and dry like the planks on that bridge. My horse wouldn't go across - he must have known it was dangerous. My friends horse took the lead, he refused to go across but we both thought the horses were being stubborn. She smacked him with her whip and he started across only to end up falling through rotten planking. Luckily he escaped with just a few cuts. We both learned our lesson that day, but sometimes it is not easy to judge a situation, even more so when you are young.

It is hard to remain calm when you see a horse trapped in any situation where its life is threatened, god knows it happened to me with my horse stuck in a wire fence years ago. It was a nightmare and in that instance I remained calm although I thought my horse (who was in a state of collapsing due to stress) was about to break his leg. When you feel helpless and unable to do anything to change an outcome it is easy to panic. Perhaps those that have had first instance of this kind of experience would be better able to comment on the situation. I agree that going to pieces is not the best thing to help a horse but it is easy to do so.
 
I think it's easy to make a judgement on the owner's reaction to the incident from behind our tv screens. Yes, her screaming would not of helped the situation, but come on, be fair, how would you react if you saw your own horse flip over the side of the bridge like that?? If it was Enigma I would quite honestly probably be just as hysterical if i thought the 4-legged love of my life was about to die or be mortally wounded infront of me, although I have dealt with horrific things with horses and have kept my cool.

It is nice to see the animal rescue unit developing within the fire brigade now. It is long overdue and as the video shows, it is alarming how little awarness these guiys can have when it comes to dealing with animals. Lets hope more counties do the same as hampshire now. :)
 
A friend is a firefighter and a horse owner, he said they did do training for dealing with horses in emergency situations. Certainly the crew that come to my yard to get a pony with a broken leg out of a ditch were excellent.
One of the things that the fire service advised was to get your horse used to being lead/handled by different people so that in an emergency the basics were in place.
 
I think its brilliant to see how far rescuing techniques have developed from then. And thank goodness no one was hurt or killed.

As for the screaming in a situation like that I would have screamed but the firefighters should have taken her away from the situation. Hindsight is a rotten thing but they did the best with the knowledge they had.
 
I've just watched it and it's interesting to hear the firefighters speak about the screaming afterwards.

The owner was screaching into the horses ear way before it struggled and fell through the bridge. As mentioned above, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but perhaps the owner should have been removed as soon as she started screaming into the horses ear, attempting to 'keep it calm'? Perhaps if she hadn't behaved in this way they would have been able to remove the horses in a much safer way to both equines and humans.
 
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