A YOUNG woman rider had a miraculous escape from serious injury after she jumped in a reservoir to save her horse after it had plunged in during a Boxing Day hunt.

The horse bolted as they rode through Lead Mines Clough, next to the Anglezarke reservoir at Rivington, Bolton, with the Holcombe Hunt. It then crashed into trees throwing the rider off before skidding on ice and plunging into the water.

The woman immediately jumped in after it in a desperate bid to pull it to safety.

They managed to struggle out of the icy water, but became trapped behind a dry-stone wall and had to be freed by firefighters.

One eyewitness said: "The horse slipped into the icy waters, but the rider was determined to help pull it out and went straight in after it. They made it to dry land and luckily they were not injured."

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters from Chorley were called to the reservoir, off Parson's Bullough Road, just before 2pm.

Watch manager John Firth, from Chorley Fire Station, said: "The horse and the rider were already out of the water and on the embankment when we arrived. We dismantled part of the wall and led the horse and its rider to safety."

Arnold Greenhalgh, joint master at the Holcombe Hunt, said the woman was heading for home when it happened.

He said: "She was going back to her wagon and had left the hunt. All I know is that they fell into a river leading to the reservoir. We heard later that she was okay."

The rider was one of hundreds who gathered across the North West to take part in Boxing Day meets.

Repeal

Supporters have renewed calls for a repeal of the three-year-old ban on the blood sport.

Up to 100 riders took part in the Holcombe Hunt, watched by a large crowd after they set off from Rivington, near Bolton.

And there were huge gatherings across Cheshire as well, with about 400 people watching nearly 140 riders set off for the Cheshire farmers' drag hunt.

About 50 riders took part in the Cheshire Forest Hunt and more than 200 people watched them set off from the Duke of Portland at Lach Dennis, Northwich.

Richard de Prez, a joint master of the Cheshire Forest Hunt, said: "This is the third Boxing Day hunt since the ban, but the support has been as good as ever.

"We just hope some common sense will prevail and that the ban will be repealed."

More than 300,000 people, including an increasing number of women and children, are believed to have turned out to 314 hunts across the UK.

The Countryside Alliance reported record crowds at many events.

Some of the biggest crowds yesterday were seen at the Avon Vale Hunt, in Wiltshire, where nearly 6,000 people met, and at the Heythrop Hunt, in Oxfordshire, where 5,000 people turned out.

The 2004 Act made hunting with dogs a criminal offence, although exercising hounds, chasing a scent trail and flushing out foxes to be shot are all still legal.

Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: "Hunting has taken the worst that could be thrown at it and survived.

"It is hard work at the moment, and the law puts innocent people at risk of prosecution, but there is an absolute determination in the hunting community to see the Hunting Act repealed."

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