Episode 8 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues, the dangers of rescuing frightened animals.

-Aghh!

-Everyone back! Everyone back!

This horse is trapped and freezing in cold water

but doesn't realise its life is being saved.

And the rugby player trampled on during a game.

She's struggling to breathe and may have broken her jaw.

Are you able to use this arm to show us where it hurts the most?

Right in there.

Welcome to Real Rescues.

This is The Hub, as it's known.

South Western Ambulance Control provide emergency medical care

for nearly three million people and were recently named Ambulance Service of the Year.

The 999 phones never stop.

Now, the dangerous rescue of a horse stuck in a muddy bog.

Arnie has wandered into a stream.

The freezing water is up to his shoulders and he's been semi-submerged for almost an hour

and light is starting to fade.

It's early evening on a cold January day.

Hello, Control?

-'One large cob trapped in watery mud.'

-Right.

'No vet in attendance as yet.'

Animal rescue specialist Jim Green is on his way.

It's happened at a stable in a village near Southampton.

A crew of fire-fighters are already there. In charge is Group Manager Jerry Leonard.

He's come in by the field, gone the wrong way and he's in to his shoulders.

He's resting his head on the bank, just where the boys are now, actually.

Immediately, Jim sees the position Arnie is in.

It'll be extremely difficult to get him out.

It's one thing hauling 450 kilos of Welsh cob out of mud,

but there's a further problem. They have to work around four scaffold poles

which make it even more dangerous for horse and rescuers.

What we don't want to do is stimulate him so he starts thrashing

and damages himself on one of those.

-Have you seen what sort of bottom's to this?

-No, we can't see.

-No.

'Around Arnie there were scaffolding poles'

that had been driven into the ground.

They were exposed about 12 inches.

'We didn't know the purpose of the scaffold poles

'but it was clear if he was stimulated and he reacted badly to our presence,'

he would quite easily impale himself on these poles and we'd have a disaster on our hands.

There's also a high risk of hypothermia.

The cob is standing in almost five feet of icy cold water.

He's already been stuck an hour.

Daylight is dwindling and temperatures are due to plunge overnight.

Jim doesn't have long to get him out.

If you're going to try and pull him out here,

you need to take quite a lot out of there.

Getting the poles out of the way will be more beneficial than taking a long time to do this.

What we have got to do is be mindful of keeping him nice and quiet.

Is your vet local?

Yes, he's in Bishopstoke.

So in the same way if we went to a car crash we'd work with a paramedic,

-we like to have a vet here.

-Am I phoning them or are you phoning them?

If you could phone, that's great.

It's very traumatic for Louise.

She's only had the cob a month and she saw it all happen.

She watched on helplessly as he stumbled into the ditch.

He just literally walked in.

He literally walked in. There was no falling or anything.

'He'd just gone down the bank for the grass and it was a lot deeper than he thought.

'And deeper than I thought at the time.'

But it was bizarre. I just thought, "Oh, God! What am I going to do now?"

I just then raced and got my mobile and phoned 999.

They can't risk pulling or pushing half a tonne of horse until it's sedated. As they await the vet,

they attempt to get the poles out of the way.

An animal's natural instinct is to escape at any cost

and every so often it looks like he's about to give it a go.

This is why we need to only have a few people

and see if we can get these out.

He's in a bit of a pickle and we haven't got a huge amount of room to work with these here.

If we can get them out, I'll be a lot happier.

-Me, too!

-Yeah, you, too. Don't worry.

The light is slipping away

and Arnie is getting colder.

'He felt very sorry for himself.'

He was like, "Oh, help me, help me!"

And I just couldn't.

There was nothing I could do to actually help him out.

Night has fallen and the vet is delayed. The fire crews cover Arnie's head.

It should help calm him, allowing them to continue digging out the poles.

See if you can do that one there.

The fire crews closest to the water

are protected by dry suits and safety ropes.

They can be pulled away quickly if Arnie were about to start thrashing about.

It's just as well, as that's what keeps happening. This horse hasn't given up the struggle.

Steady, boy. Steady, Arnie. Steady.

-Agh!

-Everyone back! Everyone back!

Right. OK. Calm down, now.

That's better.

Although trapped, this is a very powerful animal.

Arnie won't be concerned about anyone who might get in the way.

But the experts have prepared for such a scenario. Everyone is safe

and somehow Arnie has got himself in a better position for the rescuers to get him out.

The vet is only moments away

so they'll wait for the horse to be sedated before they try anything else.

Arnie's been stuck for two hours now.

There's still a long way to go before he's free.

Sedating that horse turns out to be pretty dangerous, as we see later.

I've just had a demonstration of how busy it is here.

I was talking to these four people minutes ago,

having a chat, and guess what, they're all on the phone now

except for Genna, who'll have to take the next call to 999.

Let's talk quickly. A man had had an accident after putting petrol on his bonfire and he called here.

-Yeah.

-What had he done?

-He decided to light his bonfire with petrol.

It obviously blew up on his forearms and in his face.

The caller, a lady, had decided to run a cold bath for him

to submerge him in the water.

Which you might think is the right thing to do, but isn't.

It sounds logical, but the best thing is running water, like a shower head.

Cool, tepid water, not too cold, so test it on your own skin first.

-And not a power shower because...

-I hate to ask why that is.

The skin is really delicate.

Running tap water, really, but if you can get it out of a shower head.

-Do we make it really cold?

-No, just tepid to cool water.

If it's too cold, and it's going over the whole body, there's a risk of hypothermia.

Should you do that even before you call 999, get them under the water?

The quicker you can do it, the better,

because the skin is constantly burning, even if it's just in the cold air.

When the fire isn't even near your arm, your skin is still burning.

-And you'd send an ambulance out to that sort of thing?

-Yes, for sure.

-We sent an ambulance and they were there within minutes.

-And he was OK?

-Yeah.

Genna, I'll leave you. Everyone else is on calls and I don't want to disturb you.

Thank you.

Teaching children to dial 999 in an emergency can be a life-saver, whatever their age.

Thank heavens mum Laura Kirby has got a bright little boy.

She was at home watching TV when she collapsed.

But her son took control.

Here we are joined by Nathan and mum, Laura.

-All right?

-Fine.

-What did you think? You were listening to that. Did it sound weird?

-Yes.

How come you know how to phone the ambulance when your mum gets sick?

-Because I just said that my mum's had a... What was it?

-A seizure.

-A seizure.

-How did you know to do that?

I don't think all little boys know to do that.

-My grandma told me.

-Oh, is that right?

-And is it right, you said you knew how to do this since you were...

-Three.

Three? Really?

Do you know what an absence is?

-No.

-You just know that you should say there's an absence.

-Yes.

-OK. Amazing.

It is amazing. I'm so proud of him, I really am.

He's a wonderful little boy. I don't think all children of eight would know what to do.

He was very calm, very collected.

-He knows exactly how to help me.

-How often do these things happen?

-It's usually about...

-Six weeks.

-Every six weeks.

-Is that right?

So he's had a lot of practice getting used to it?

He has, yeah, definitely.

-Do you have a fit each time you have an absence, or is it...

-Stress.

Is it really? Is that what you think it is?

Not every time I have an absence.

Sometimes I have an absence and a seizure could follow a few minutes or an hour or so later.

Sometimes it could be up to a week later or I can have an absence and nothing happens at all.

Is that right? What do you think brings it on, makes it happen?

I don't know.

Can you tell when it's going to happen?

-No. Yes. She doesn't speak to me.

-Doesn't speak, just goes quiet?

And you know then it's probably time to call 999.

Interestingly, Mandy, the call-taker, is working elsewhere today and can't join us.

But she wanted to send a message to you. I'll read a bit of what it says.

Where are we?

I was looking to see which bit I needed to read.

"Nathan did a remarkable job and she'll remember the call for a long time.

"He remained calm throughout and answered all the questions."

She says that you were making her job much easier.

That's pretty cool, isn't it?

Do you fancy working in one of these places? These are the people you talk to when you dial 999.

-Which one?

-She's not here today.

Otherwise she'd actually talk to you.

Would it be good to be on the end of the phone, sending ambulances out?

-Being an ambulance driver.

-Yeah, I think that might be fun, too!

-Smashing. Thanks for coming in to talk to us.

-Thank you.

-Well done, you.

-Football.

-You want to talk football now?

They're cheap to buy, they cost nothing to install.

A smoke alarm is a genuine life-saver.

But they can also save our houses or flats as the homeowner in this rescue found out.

Reports have come in of a fire in a first-floor flat in a busy residential area.

Where that car's just gone.

-Down here?

-Then first on the right.

Adrian Johnson is crew manager of Green Watch.

They're the second unit to arrive.

They're starting up!

"Starting up" means they're getting ready to go in wearing breathing apparatus.

There's no sign of smoke outside yet but there is a fire.

Adey, what do you need?

-Covering jet.

-Covering jet, guys.

Watch manager Adey Butts has confirmed the kitchen is filling with smoke.

As the first team enter the flat, Paul Shepherd prepares another jet. The fire could flare up at any time.

We're going to do the services now. Shut off the electrics.

Adrian needs to isolate the mains gas and electric supply.

He's hoping a neighbour will tell him where they are.

But it's all over before he even gets to the door.

One of the fire crew is coming out carrying the cause of the fire.

It's a basket of laundry. It started smouldering after it was left on an electric hob.

So the clean and neatly folded clothes are going to get another soaking.

They reached such a high temperature that with the slightest breeze

they've burst into flames.

The usual accidental, doing their domestic duties.

Gone off, leading a busy life.

Nearly had quite a nasty fire.

Fire-fighter Tim O'Donnell is going to use the covering jet after all.

Unusually, the seat of the fire has been brought out to him.

Although the fire was small, if they hadn't got to it quickly, the entire flat would have gone up in smoke,

creating deadly fumes.

The owner of the flat is out, but the crews inside have retrieved one casualty.

They've found Cookie, the pet guinea pig,

who almost lived up to his name. The smoke detector has done its job.

The guinea pig looks fine. I'm a bit worried about its welfare out in the cold as it's January.

The flat owner, Diane, has arrived.

It turns out her daughter's fiance, Gary, called 999.

I'd been out doing a bit of food shopping.

I had to stop at Diane's flat on the way home

to get laundry she'd done for me and my other half.

When I got out the taxi, I heard the smoke alarm going mad.

I opened the door and smoke started billowing out

so I thought I'd better come away and dial 999.

I was worried that the flat might go up.

Fire-fighters have cleared the smoke with a fan.

It's left a nasty mess on the hob.

But it could have been so much worse, as Diane is only too aware.

A massive shock. You don't think it's going to happen.

You think it's safe, you can go out

and all of a sudden, something like this.

If not for my son-in-law, I wouldn't have a flat now. I wouldn't have anything.

Diane had been in a hurry to get out.

I was more interested getting my shopping for the week.

I moved the basket onto the cooker

and I mustn't have switched the switch off properly

and I must have knocked one of the things.

And it caught alight.

So easy when you're not thinking. And I'm the first for safety.

I've always turned everything off.

-And the guinea pig's all right?

-The guinea pig's fine!

My daughter loves that guinea pig. I'm not even sure about the cat, actually,

if the cat's around!

There's relief all round that the damage is confined to the laundry basket.

It's now safe for Cookie to return, as well.

Poor little thing!

-He don't know what the hell's going on!

-He's hiding in his box.

It's a case of wash-day blues,

although Gary's timely arrival certainly saved the day.

Luckily the smoke alarm went off and someone found it.

Could have been a lot worse. Easy mistake to make,

but it's all about being vigilant.

If you're going out, those hobs are typical. You can't tell if they're hot or cold.

Just check around.

But very lucky. Could have been a nasty fire.

Go on!

And right on cue, the cat turns up.

Home safe and sound, too.

Diane has been told the switch on her hob was faulty and could have caused that fire.

She's since had it replaced. Cookie, the guinea pig, did some sneezing and coughing

but is now back to normal.

Still to come on Real Rescues.

Arnie is now sedated, but is still fighting against the rescue team.

Just keep his head over that way.

No-one said this job was going to be easy, when you took the Queen's shilling!

And the rescue hovercraft that's saved hundreds of lives

and the odd floating car!

Children with little fingers have a habit of trapping their hands into nooks and crannies.

More often that not, they manage to pull them out. But not always, as in this case.

The fast response ambulance car is heading across town.

A two-year-old boy has his hand trapped in a bathroom door.

A fire crew is already at the scene.

Yes, fine. We'll go and assess.

We'll let you know what we need to do. Thanks.

Mark Ainsworth-Smith is one of the most senior paramedics in the service.

He arrives to find the firemen have freed the boy, but he might have done some serious damage.

Lovely. Thanks for your help.

Hello, my name's Mark.

Bless him. He looks all right now. He looks a bit better.

-It was horrible.

-Someone's being very brave.

-Good boy.

-Tell me his name, first.

-It's Harry.

Harry? I've got a little boy called Harry. How old is Harry?

-He's two.

-Is he normally fit and well?

-Very well.

You're very brave, Harry. Did you get your finger stuck in the door?

-Did you? Is it this hand? It's that hand?

-The one he won't let you see!

Let's have a look. I'm not going to hurt you. Can I see this side?

Harry's fingers were trapped in the gap by the door hinges.

Mum could not release them and the little chap was screaming with pain.

Harry, can you squeeze my fingers for me? Oh, you star! Well done.

Is that hurting? A little bit sore?

Mark now has a better idea of what sort of injuries Harry may have.

But first he needs to ease the little chap's pain.

We should give him some Calpol, to settle him down, if that's OK.

I think he's going to use his fingers fine. I don't think there are any fractures or anything.

It's been a traumatic afternoon for two-year-old Harry.

He's a bit subdued.

Do you like strawberries? Do you?

The liquid paracetamol should help pick him up.

-Clever boy. Well done.

-Good boy!

Mark has to check and rule out all possible injuries.

He can only do this once he's seen exactly where Harry's fingers were trapped.

It was this door just here.

In desperation, Mum, Danielle, had hoped that the frozen peas

would reduce the swelling and free Harry's hand.

So, let me get this straight. He had his hand here.

-He poked his fingers in, then his brother came down and said...

-I see.

-Harry'd caught his fingers.

There is a bit of a gap there, even when it closes.

A fairly big gap. So lucky guy, lucky.

-Right.

-Are you going to eat my peas?

-There's a few peas all down the stairs as well!

-I just grabbed them.

They're going to use the peas as an improvised ice pack for Harry's fingers.

Danielle goes to fetch a cloth so they can apply them comfortably.

While they wait, Mark proves he's not just magic with medicine!

See this? You're going to like this!

Are you ready?

Hey, is that cool? Do you like that? Do you want to have a blow?

Let's take your dummy out and have a blow.

Have a blow.

Yeah, you've got a strong breath, haven't you?

The pen does the trick. Harry is smiling.

Yeah! And again. Blow it out.

Blow it harder this time. Can you help? Both of you?

Well done, that's excellent.

Mark's proving to be quite a hit with his audience!

Harry, what I'd like you to do, mate, is put your hand gently on there for me.

The frozen pea ice pack will reduce the swelling

as well as the pain. Mark continues to examine his fingers.

And this side? Can you feel that, yeah?

Well done. Your nails look nice and clean.

Usually, if there's a fracture, it's so painful, they stop using them.

He's clearly using them now, so that's good.

# How I wonder what you are... #

For a final check, Mark gets all the children to sing a favourite song, with actions.

Harry, can you do that?

Are you going to show me?

-I think he's using it fine, yes.

-He's bending it, isn't he?

-# How I wonder what you are. #

-Very good.

Harry's improving all the time. In fact,

he might have revived a bit too much!

Oh, no, they've gone a bit hyper!

-Oh, God!

-Sorry about that!

It's all the excitement.

Out you come to this side. Out this way. Come over here.

Harry has the all-clear. As a treat, Mark lays on a blue light drive-past so there's no bad memories.

Harry, are you going to wave with your... That's it!

Lovely! That's what I want to see!

Mark's worked his magic.

-Bye!

-Thank you!

He's now off to prepare for his next call-out.

Let me introduce you to Bertie. She's 14 years old. Say hello.

-Hi.

-Is it OK to call you Bertie? Roberta.

-Yeah.

-Bertie.

-Bertie.

-Lovely. Thank you.

We have something in common. We're both rugby players. Bertie, here, as she's known to her friends,

was in the wars recently when one game didn't go quite according to plan.

There's an ambulance on the pitch and this rugby match is now over.

All attention is focused on injured 14-year-old Bertie.

Any tenderness?

As a keen player, she's used to the rough and tumble,

but the pain has reduced her to a whimper.

Your jaw, are you OK to move it a bit?

SHE WHIMPERS IN PAIN

What's happening now? Have you got pain?

-Mmm!

-Take some deep breaths in for me.

Bertie was stamped on during the game. As the match continued, she left the pitch.

Her friend and team coach Ros was immediately concerned.

Bertie just walked off to the side, sat down and then lay down.

I realised something was really wrong.

Any pains in your chest? SHE GROANS

Can you use this arm to show us where it hurts the most?

Right in there.

'I went over, tried to get her to talk,'

but she wasn't talkative, which is very unlike her.

She told me it wasn't her head, it was her jaw and she was having trouble breathing.

Bertie appears shocked and frightened, finding it difficult to communicate.

But paramedics Danny Millum and Jason Brown need to know exactly where the pain is.

-Anywhere else? Your tummy OK?

-Mm.

-Chest?

-It hurts here.

-Does your jaw hurt?

You look a bit swollen on the left-hand side.

Bertie will have to go to hospital.

The injury is to the front of her neck and jaw, rather than her spine.

The paramedics are happy they can move her safely onto the stretcher.

OK. Are you able to sit up?

Take your time.

That's it. Excellent.

But this Bertie is a far cry from the one her team-mates know.

Bertie's normally very loud, very funny, very happy.

She's always the first with a joke, always very animated.

Sit yourself down. That's it.

Having to see her like that, very pale, not moving a lot,

not saying a lot, was very disturbing.

Jason needs to go through some basic checks on her jaw.

But Bertie can't bear to move her mouth.

Can you poke your tongue out and open nice and wide?

Show me exactly where it hurts again.

Is it here?

Very painful?

If you had to score that pain in your jaw out of ten,

ten being the worst pain you've ever felt, what would you give it?

-Nine.

-You'd give it a nine.

OK.

We understand she's been playing rugby, kicked in her jaw, got pain in her jaw,

so we need to manage the pain now if we can.

Before they subject Bertie to the bumpy journey off the field,

they want to give her morphine. Ros is on hand to offer support.

Even with the pain, Bertie is very anxious at the thought of the injection.

It's really important not to leave someone on their own, even if they're with medical people.

They're doing their job, getting everything sorted for Bertie.

Let me know when that starts working.

I've been there without someone with me and it's quite lonely.

You don't know what's going on. You need someone to reassure you and keep you calm.

Let me know when you feel a bit better and the pain starts to go.

With Bertie more settled, she's ready to go to hospital.

It's not the way they wanted her to leave the field, but her team-mates give her quite a send-off.

APPLAUSE

-They gave you a round of applause!

-Yeah.

That's cool. What's with the needles, then?

I'm pretty needle-phobic, myself. I don't like needles.

You're such a wimp!

I was... Truth is, I am a bit of a wimp! Yes, you're right.

The thing you were most worried about there was the way your hair looked!

-Yeah, well, I looked a mess.

-You'd just been playing rugby!

Yeah, but mud everywhere. And I looked a mess.

That happens when you play rugby! Plus you'd been trampled on!

How did you get into such a state, then? It was an important part of the game.

-Yeah.

-You were camped on your own line, defending your own line.

Ball pings down to you. What then?

I caught the ball.

Then before I had the chance to run with it or dispatch it off,

everyone just sort of jumped on me to try and get the ball.

It was sudden death and we needed a try.

Then I just got trampled on. Everyone was on top of me.

They piled in. So where did you get hurt? Did they tread on you?

Yeah, I got kneed in the neck and trampled on the chest and stuff.

Then I managed to get up and someone just swang and elbowed me in the jaw.

-That's not very nice!

-No!

-Did they do it on purpose?

-Of course not!

-They were trying to score a try.

-And did they?

-Yeah.

-That's annoying!

So you guys got wrote out anyway, on the sudden death.

-We got medals.

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-They got medals, you were off to hospital.

-I still got a medal.

Still got the medal. So you won't be playing any more?

Of course I am!

-Really?!

-Yeah!

-What happens if you get hurt again?

-Aren't you worried about that?

-No.

That's rugby, isn't it? It's not exactly ballet!

That's true enough!

OK.

Would you recommend other people to try the game?

Yeah, it's a great game.

If you have strength, or you're really good at running, get in there!

OK. Don't worry about how you looked in that. You're looking nice today.

We've seen both sides of you.

-Thank you.

-My pleasure.

I'll forgive you for calling me a wimp!

Louise?

She's got music, hasn't she?

We see all manner of rescues, but rarely by hovercraft.

This one is based near Burnham-on-Sea.

Over the last eight years, it's saved hundreds of lives.

Here it is in action.

A family of five from Bristol were rescued after getting stranded on mud flats 1.5 miles from shore.

They'd driven onto Brean beach but had gone too far and got stuck in mud.

The father managed to walk back to shore to alert the coastguard

who called in the rescue hovercraft.

And it's not just cars that get stuck in the mud.

The coastguard got a call about a yacht stranded in mud.

The yacht didn't have any radio so the coastguard and rescue hovercraft went to check the owner was OK.

He'd only just bought the yacht and didn't have any charts.

Thank you, Dave. Nice driving. Thanks to your assistants Julie, Chris and Chris.

Tell me about your hovercraft and where you operate from.

We operate in the Bridgewater Bay area, based in Burnham-on-Sea.

We operate from Bridgewater round to Weston-super-Mare,

-on the mud flats.

-That's the key, isn't it?

How does this make a difference on those mud flats?

We can go across the mud no problem.

Straight from sand onto the mud at speed.

You deal with a vast area on those mud flats?

They tell us when it's fully low tide, there's 30 square miles of mud flats.

That's an awful lot of mud!

People get into trouble on those flats. Do they wander out?

They wander out following the sea. Because it goes out so far,

holidaymakers think they can see the sea not far away,

but usually it's the reflection of the sun on the mud!

They keep walking and eventually they go a little way and then suddenly they're down.

It's all in different spaces.

At that stage, the coastguard call you in because it's easier for you to get there?

If anyone sees these people in distress, they dial 999.

The coastguard will check it out and if someone's in the mud, we're asked to take the coastguard out.

You've got one example where a man was stuck up to his waist? What was going on?

One evening, he was stuck up to his waist and the tide was lapping around him.

We managed to get out there. He was lucky if he had ten minutes before he was submerged by the tide.

How do you even find somebody in that vast area?

-People have told you where they are?

-People ring 999 and they're supposed to stay there then

until the coastguard or we arrive, so we can pinpoint it.

He must have been pretty pleased to see you?

I think so, but he was getting a bit cold by then and didn't know much about anything by that time.

So this little hovercraft has saved lots of lives?

This one and we have another one, Elena. Probably since it's been in service,

it's getting on for 200 lives saved from the mud.

-You love driving this. You're a volunteer.

-Yes. We're all volunteers.

-It's good!

-Thanks for showing me around.

-Thank you. Pleasure.

Fascinating stuff, that. Hovercraft. You never know those things are around.

All kinds of different vehicles being used.

I'm going to chat with Ben. Ben's life, since you became a call-taker, has changed considerably.

Yes, it was nice to get experience. I looked at going into the medicine side of things.

But getting experience on the front line, the first person they talk to,

taking choking calls and helping people stop and giving CPR advice,

actually helping people at the front line,

has made me want to go more towards not so much the GP side of things, but more the A&E.

Get out with the basics doctors, as you've shown.

The basics doctors have featured considerably on Real Rescues over the years.

So that idea of you being trained up to help people at the side of the road.

Would be fantastic. We have a few minutes where we help them on the phone then hand over to the crews.

Then they hand over to the hospital

and seeing that process, being on the road doing it

then following it through.

I'm fascinated. You're so involved with such an emotional part of people's lives

for a brief spell but then it gets taken over and taken away.

Do you spend time after the call wondering what happened?

You do. Sometimes the crews feed back through

and they say well done, you helped them out, or unfortunately...

Things like that. To let you know what happened with it, the basis behind it.

It's good to get an idea of what's going on, but you're surrounded in the emotion of the call.

How are you combining work and managing to do your study as well?

-I don't start till September.

-So you'll keep going till September.

-Yeah.

Earn some pennies to get through Uni.

Good luck with it. It's a great line to go into.

Good luck. Interesting, how it can change your life, being involved in a job.

Now, back to Arnie, the 14-year-old horse stuck in a freezing muddy bog.

The specialist rescue team have spent three hours trying to encourage him out of the water.

But the fading light and falling temperatures mean their only option is to sedate the horse

and try to pull him out.

-Hello, how are you? My name's Jim.

-I'm Zoe.

-Hi, Zoe.

Equine vet Zoe Turner has arrived. Her expertise will be vital if Arnie is to make it out of here.

Animal rescuer Jim Green briefs her.

This isn't going to be straightforward.

We'll probably have to sedate very heavily. Probably about nine.

-That's right.

-OK.

The quickest method of sedating Arnie is to inject straight into a vein.

But that's a difficult and risky job. Zoe has to get up very close.

Arnie's desperation to get to his feet

is making him much more agitated and difficult to work around.

Zoe's very concerned about how cold he is.

There is only a certain length of time

that the body can keep its own temperature

above a critical level.

It's similar to a person getting dropped in a frozen lake.

There's only so long they can survive

before the body just shuts down.

The fire-fighters do all they can to keep her safe.

Attached to a rope, she makes her way down to the horse.

It's a tense moment.

But Zoe's managed to administer the drug successfully.

Now there's another wait until the sedative takes effect.

Despite the drug, Arnie tries again to break free.

Zoe's pulled away to safety.

Keep his head over that way.

No-one said this job was going to be easy when you took the Queen's shilling!

It's a very difficult situation.

This horse is still fighting to save itself.

That's making it even more dangerous for the rescue team.

Sedation doesn't work as well in stressed animals in any situation.

He was clearly cold and in shock.

He had very high levels of adrenaline.

All these things combined and reduced the effectiveness

of the drugs given.

The initial dose given was a high dose for his body weight

but it wasn't enough to restrain him sufficiently to allow the firemen to do their job.

They had no choice but to up the dosage of the sedation.

Everyone quiet, now, please.

The adrenaline is fighting the sedative.

The more he struggles, the more he's going down on that back end.

That's really not good.

Again, valuable minutes go by as they wait for the drugs to work.

Now he's starting to go.

That's better!

Everyone with dry suits, get stuck in to this.

Finally, after two and a half hours in the water,

Arnie is subdued enough for the team to work safely.

There's a chance he may start to suffer from hypothermia.

They waste no time activating their plan.

We've got a forward skid on.

Back round, this in, forward skid straight out.

They've moved in with inflatable pathways to work safely in the mud.

Then strops, or pulling straps, have to be put into position.

-Got it?

-Yep.

-Well done.

They're now ready to heave the large horse out of the water.

Let's try it.

14 fire-fighters pull with all their might to free Arnie from the water-filled ditch.

He's going.

Go on.

Go on, fellas. Well done.

Well done, everyone. Well done.

They've done it. Now they can reposition at the front

They're going to use the inflatable pathway as a slide.

Go with it!

Greased by the slippery mud,

Arnie can be slid up onto solid ground.

Keep going!

-Rest there!

-Rest!

-Well done.

Arnie was in the icy water for over three hours.

He's freezing, exhausted, and still under the influence of a lot of sedation.

It's clear to Louise that he's not out of danger yet.

'When he came out of that water,'

he was a bit of a wreck.

He wasn't good at all.

He was so cold, he was so wet, he really, really was in a bad way.

Now is the tensest time.

If Arnie has any chance of survival,

he has to get up on his feet.

He's trying to come round. It's a matter of time, really.

It takes time to ease off.

Good lad.

Jim and the team, Zoe and Louise, are all willing him on.

It's a long 15 minutes

before he finally hauls himself up.

He staggers to his feet.

Turn him round. Turn him round.

Well done. Turn him. Nice and gently. Nice and gently.

Stand. Stand.

Steady, boy.

But it's going to be touch and go for Arnie. He may be out of the icy water,

but there's still a real danger of hypothermia.

The next 24 hours are going to be critical.

It continued to be a very difficult night for Arnie. But this story does have a happy ending.

Cold and shivering, Arnie was eventually taken to his stable.

Once he was back in his stable, both his front and back legs cramped up.

It's called exertional rhabdomyolysis, or tying up,

and this was very painful for him.

We had to give him strong pain relief.

This was while we were giving him fluids for shock at the same time.

He had a lot of fight in him and he wasn't going to give up!

The vets were brilliant.

They worked all through the night with him.

It was touch and go at one point whether he was going to make it.

But the vet was so happy when she came down the following day.

Just three weeks on and Arnie is back doing what he loves,

parading in the yard with Louise's daughter, Kaylee.

He's fine. You wouldn't believe he'd been through all that.

I couldn't believe how good the recovery has been with him.

Arnie being his name, he must be a Terminator, cos he's recovered remarkably!

I couldn't believe it.

And Louise has made changes to make sure it will never happen again.

I wouldn't let it happen again.

My brother and dad came down and put a fence up.

I've taken that one out of the equation cos he can't now!

-I'm glad he's better.

-You're a softie with horses.

-I am a softie.

-You're a rider, aren't you?

-Yes.

It's dangerous! It's a dangerous sport. People fall off horses.

-Have you fallen off?

-Yeah. Don't be a wimp!

What is going on? That's twice in one programme! Not happy with that!

-Maybe I was told!

-Isn't it interesting what Ben said,

about how you can get led into a change of lifestyle and take off in a different direction.

I love the fact that they'd all like to know what happens

at the end of these calls, and if people are OK.

Even the paramedics were saying only one in 100 ever write and say they'd like to know.

-If you get helped out by someone, drop them a line.

-Absolutely.

-Say thank you.

-That's a good idea.

-Yes. "Wimp"!

-That's all for today. Join us next time for more Real Rescues.

-Bye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd