Essex Fire and Rescue called to haul pony from swimming pool

The stocky white pony was following owner Yiana Lambrou, 14, to his new paddock at the family home in Woodside, Thornwood, shortly after 8am today when he took a wrong turn and fell through a chipboard cover into the disused pool.

Yiana’s father, Lambros Lambrou, said: “I heard the dogs bark, looked out of the window at the back and saw my daughter lying down, with the horse in the swimming pool. It was a bizarre sight.”

Her mother, Nadia Lambrou, added: “We called the fire brigade – we’d seen them deal with things like this on RSPCA Animal Rescue on TV.

“The fire brigade tried to walk him up a ramp, but his gait was too wide, so he couldn’t.

“They emptied the pool, which was absolutely grim, put strapping around him and rolled him out onto his belly.

“He was cool as a cucumber and was so good. He’s 13, so he’s not too young, but he’s a bit of a feisty one.

“The fire brigade were brilliant and they knew what to do.”

Yiana and a vet from Galley Hill Equine Surgery in Waltham Abbey kept Bob calm during his two and a half hour ordeal with food and tranquilisers, while fire crews from Epping, Harlow and Great Baddow and two specialist animal rescue teams pulled him out by hand, using long straps.

He rolled onto his side before leaping up and was led into his straw-filled stable next to the family’s other horse Dolly.

Yiana said: “He’s got a few scratches and a bit of bruising. I’m grateful he’s out and about and now he just seems like nothing happened.”

She said Bob, who was rescued by the family from a cramped, dirty stable about two years ago, was popular at the last yard where he lived, in Chingford.

“He was known as the escape artist who has no fear, because he went under electric fences and ran off with the mares,” she added.

The family are renovating their new home with the help of Mr Lambrou’s electrician cousin Demetri Demetriou, who rose to fame as half of Britain’s Got Talent dance act Stavros Flatley.