The 14-year-old quarter horse was eventually coaxed from the waters and brought to safety, to the delight of the owner Kirstin Miller, a vet, who lives in Castle Douglas.
It is thought the horse had jumped into the burn from the field it shared with three others sometime during the day, swam downstream and under a bridge which carries the Dalbeattie bypass.
But it wasn’t discovered to be missing until Kirstin went to feed the horses at night.
They have been kept in the same field for years but somehow ‘Dime’ jumped into the burn where there are deep pools, some up to ten feet deep.
Kirstin found the horse stranded in the middle of the burn and contacted the emergency services for help.
Firefighters from Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie along with specialist units from Dumfries and water units from Dumfries and Newton Stewart managed to get the horse up the banking and walked it along the overgrown banking. They were up to chest deep in the water at some stages as they struggled to get a halter on the frightened horse so that it could be brought to safety up the steep, overgrown bankings.
Eventually Kirstin went in and with help of the firefighters managed to coax the horse up the steep banking.
Kirstin thanked the emergency teams for their work and said: “Dime must have got frightened and jumped into water and made off downstream.
“She’s been in the field for years and we’ve never had any trouble before. I’m just delighted to get her back for she must have been frightened.”
