Foxy the racehorse who fell backwards into a well finally back on her feet

Foxy the racehorse is back on her feet again after she fractured her leg falling backwards into a well. The 11-year-old grey mare is lucky to be alive after being found trapped in bizarre fashion in May, in field near Hinckley, Leicestershire. Firefighters were called to the stables and found that she had wedged herself vertically in a water-filled hole and seemed to be in distress. Mark Edwards, from southern station’s technical rescue team, was one of the first on the scene. He said: “We were faced with a metre diameter well, with the only part of the horse visible being the knees, head and neck – the rest of her body was submerged below water.



“It’s out of the ordinary - not something you come across every day. We’ve only ever seen one other animal in a well and that was a bull. We’d never seen anything quite like this before. It’s not a situation you can train for or envisage because you wouldn’t have thought a horse could get into that position in the first place.” Mark and his team, along with members of the Hinckley and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Animal Rescue, used a safety harness to haul the large animal out of the well and she was assessed by a waiting vet.



Mark said: “There was a considerable amount of discussion that took place as to whether it was a viable rescue or not, and there were divided opinions about whether we were going to be actually able to achieve the rescue within animal welfare. So we requested the police in case we needed a marksman.” Vet Jonathan Bryars, of Chine House Vets, in Sileby, said: “As Foxy got to the top we gave her some sedation so she didn’t get too excited. We also had to keep her laying on the ground until the heavy sedation had worn off. We wanted to assess that she didn’t have any broken legs. Then when she was more awake we helped her up.”



Foxy was examined and Jonathan found she had suffered a fracture on the back of her knee - which led to a joint infection - along with superficial wounds. She was taken to Rossdales Equine Hospital, in Newmarket, and she received intensive care and treatment for a total of eight weeks. Her owner Amy Badge said: “I couldn’t believe it when I heard what had happened to Foxy, I broke down into tears - it was devastating news and it’s something my family and I, along with those involved, will never forget. She added: “She’s always been a gentle horse, but considering how bad the injuries were she’s not really been as spooked as we expected her to be, although having a lot of people around her unnerves her at the minute, but nowhere near as bad as we expected.”