Runaway pony rescued after being found submerged up to his neck in slurry pit

A pony was rescued from being submerged in a slurry pit, 15 hours after escaping from its paddock and going missing. Nikki Wilcox’s six-year-old pony, Prince was not found until the afternoon after he went missing. He was discovered neck deep from the pit after an extensive search. “We went to the neighbouring farms and launched a search for him but really struggled to find him. Everyone at the farm helped us search,” Nikki, from Pentyrch in Cardiff, Wales, said.



“We found him in a slurry pit and called the vet straight away and started to try to rescue him. “It was horrendous.” The pony escaped from his paddock after breaking the fence and Nikki, her daughter and her friends spent the next 15 hours trying to find him. “It was absolutely terrible not knowing where he was. And seeing him stuck in the slurry pit was just awful,” the 41-year-old said. “I’d broken my shoulder the day before after falling off a horse and cart so I just had to stand on the sidelines and watch.



“My daughter Chloe was hysterical so I had to hold it together and be calm.” Nikki’s neighbours, David Haines, Katy Haines and Debbie Evans helped rescue Prince from the slurry pit and if they hadn’t found him when they did, it may have been too late. “The vet said he thought Prince only had an hour to live when we finally rescued him.” Although Prince showed signs of recovering in the following days, he soon took a turn for the worse. “I stayed with him all night and in the morning when the vet came back he’d picked up and was doing well.



“But two days later he went downhill again and we discovered he had three ulcers in both of his eyes so he now has to have treatment, and we’re hoping he doesn’t lose his vision.” He also badly injured his back leg, suffered abrasions from the ropes used to rescue him and is clearly shaken from the episode. “He’s usually very friendly and upbeat but at the moment he spends most of his time sitting at the back of his stable with his head down,” Nikki said. “He’s very shaken, but we’re praying he gets better and are looking after him the best we can.”