THE owner of a horse that had to be put down after being rescued from a river last week believes it was a deliberate act carried out by someone trespassing onto their field.

Braeburns, a young coloured cob that belonged to Shires Holt, a sanctuary for rescued Bodmin Moor ponies, was found to be in a river near Treknow and Trewarmett, near Tintagel, after owner Pip Lovelock said a neighbour had heard a ‘crash’ and went to investigate.

Mr Lovelock, who was dealing with a welfare case around half an hour from the incident, was called by another neighbour who asked him to come to the scene as quickly as possible.

Mr Lovelock said a vet had been called for, and when he arrived and saw Braeburns: “He was laying down in the river looking reasonably comfortable, but as we got closer we could see he was shivering and very alarmed.

“He was in shock and clearly exhausted. When I got down he was very pleased to see me. I gently chatted away to him.”

Mr Lovelock said Braeburns had been in ‘superb’ condition and could not see how the horse was unable to free itself from the river.

When a vet arrived, Mr Lovelock said they were unable to see anything wrong with the horse except that he was in shock and beginning to suffer from hypothermia, and needed to be freed from the river as quickly as possible.

Mr Lovelock praised the ‘very quick response’ of the Delabole fire service crew, who arrived at the scene within 15 minutes.

Mr Lovelock said Braeburns was able to get up on his front end, but one of his back legs was not allowing him to get up fully. Mr Lovelock said ‘he was having such difficulty he was thrashing around an awful lot’.

The Delabole crew was joined by the large animal rescue division from Bodmin, and around 16 firefighters in total assisted with the rescue.

The vet said although he could not see anything physically wrong with Braeburns, because of the fall there was the potential he had suffered spinal damage. Mr Lovelock said he was told: “If by the morning he hasn’t stood there is no chance for him.”

Mr Lovelock stayed with Braeburns all night, and Braeburns was kept comfortable before unfortunately he had to be put down on Saturday.

Mr Lovelock said he and his wife Kerrie had horses all their lives, and he worked for 30 years with Shire horses commercially.

They came to own Braeburns after they decided they wanted riding ponies for their young boys, and they wanted to have them from an early age.

He added of Braeburns: “Everybody found him so personable. He had an absolutely amazing character,” and said his son James, who would have been riding Braeburns in due course, ‘completely fell in love with him’ when he met him.

He said one of the santuary’s benefactors has been ‘traumatised’ by the death of Braeburns. He added there is ‘hard evidence of activity inside the field’.

He said: “There is no way this is an accident. He has been physically pushed out of the field.”

He said Braeburns had been pushed through brambles and barbed wire before ending up in the river.

“The little lad had the entirety of his life in front of him. He must have been absolutely terrified.”

The sanctuary had recently received the support of singer Will Young, and since then Mr Lovelock said they had received ‘harassment’ online through social media.

They have set up a ‘Go Fund Me’ page to raise money for CCTV, which can be viewed at www.gofundme.com/2cjwhtt8Police said their enquiries into the incident are continuing. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on non-emergency number 101 quoting log reference 508 02/07/16, or email [email protected] can be given anonymously by contacting Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.