The Norfolk Fire and Rescue service have received an early Christmas gift for one of their most unique teammates.

The Norfolk Fire and Rescue service have received an unusual Christmas gift, for one of their most unique teammates.

The service has been gifted a horse box by Redwings Horse Sanctuary, so that the fire department can transport their wooden training horse to events across the county.

Since 2010, the horse, 'Randy', has been vital in teaching the services how to rescue other horses from difficult situations such as out of ditches and rivers.

Jennie Schamp is a NFRS operational support officer, she said: 'Randy is the only mannequin we have, and we have a number of teams within the service, including Kings Lynn, Thetford, Carrow and Dereham, that need to train with him frequently to keep up their standards. So his regular and safe transportation across the county is incredibly important.'

Perry Smith, a technical service officer, added: 'So when Randy's former horse trailer fell into disrepair and was deemed no longer useable, we launched an appeal via our Facebook page this summer to see if someone would be kind enough to help us replace it and that's when Redwings called.'

Lynn Cutress, Redwings chief executive, said: 'It is our pleasure to support the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service by loaning our trailer for both their animal rescue demonstrations and training, and for the safe transportation of their trusty education horse Randy.

'Randy is such an impressive and vital training tool, and as well as loaning our trailer we have also pledged a retirement home at the Sanctuary to Randy should he need it!'