Missing horse that bolted towards Formby had thousands of shares online

The local community pulled together when a female horse had been on Ainsdale beach and spooked herself before bolting off on her own towards Formby around 12noon on Saturday 4th August.

Photos of the horse were posted online and shared over 8,000 times. So many people came out to help search and one woman came all the way from Bolton after she saw the online appeal. The search went on until dark. The horse was later spotted on the dunes and the bridle path. The horse which was a beautiful Bay, was all tacked up.

Owner of the horse, Michelle Louise appealed for help: "Anyone that's coming to help search we're going to look in the woods when it's daylight if anyone would like to join us."

The good news came early the next morning when the Southport Offshore Rescue team were called in to help. A spokesperson from Southport Offshore Rescue Team said: "We had a call out at 07:32hrs this morning, Sunday 5th August. Southport Quads were called to assist the owners of a missing horse and to bring the animal out of the sand dunes."

"After searching between Birkdale and Ainsdale, the owners were located with the horse just south of Shore Road and escorted out of the dunes so they could return to their horse box."

Michelle Louise posted a thankyou online: "Just a quick one to everyone. Thank you so much for everyone's help from the people that came and helped search to the 8k shares online and for offers to help with search drones and the coast guards where amazing."

"We got her back home, she had a few cuts and bumps, the vet checked her over said there may be a torn tendon and possibly a tendon abscess. I also noticed she has a swelled eye, I cleaned it out and it was full of sand. We will see how she goes in few days. All in all, she is a very, very, lucky horse. I genuinely thought she wasn't coming back."

"There are loads of people to thank, especially to Samuel Gunner for actually spotting her when we were searching. Kyla Webstud for letting me nick the trailer to get her back quickly. Rufford vets for the speedy call out. Local livery yard for letting me stable her for a bit. Everyone who lead her back, offers of transport, there are so many people! Thankyou everyone!"

A lovely happy ending thanks to a lot of help from an amazing community that pulled together.

Love your community, Love your Bubble.