Shire horse rescued from Radcliffe pond

The horse was trapped in the pond for more than three hours

A horse has been rescued after it got trapped in a pond in Greater Manchester.

Firefighters from Broughton and Heywood found the shire horse, called Jeremy, submerged up to his neck at Scotson Fold Farm in Radcliffe.

The gelding, which got trapped at about 09:00 BST, was hauled to safety more than three hours later.

Several years ago firefighters had to rescue the same horse after it got stuck in a canal.

'Close call'

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service's specialist Water Incident Unit rescued Jeremy while his owners, Jenny Renshaw and her daughter Jayen, looked on with his best friend - a donkey called Misty.

"I stood back, I can't handle seeing him being moved around," Jayen said.

"It was a close call, the vet gave him a lot of antibiotics and stuff to calm him down."

She added: "Misty was standing over there with him. I think she had to turn away at times too.

"They're like Little and Large - they're best buddies."

Fire service station manager Kevin O'Connor said: "It was up to its neck in water and suffering from hypothermia.

"It kept trying to spin in the water, every time we got ready to pull it up it would turn round.

"It was very close to dying, but the donkey never left its side."