An equestrian club member has told of the dramatic moment she rescued horses trapped in their burning stables seconds before they were engulfed in flames.

Rosanna Kuit, 21, assistant manager of the Pachesham Equestrian Centre, in Randalls Road, Leatherhead, released pony Number Four, which she rides, seconds before an inferno spreading through an adjacent hay barn reached him.

Ms Kuit, centre owner Linda York and members of a dog agility team training nearby, rushed to free 40 horses into fields as the blaze destroyed 19 stables just after 9pm last Thursday.

Ms Kuit, who also fought through smoke to rescue her dog Pedro from a burning caravan, said: “The stables were already burning at the back, I went my way around getting the horses out.

“Number Four was the first pony I got out, his stable was completely alight and falling down at the back.

“You couldn’t have put it out. It was just scary - it was so quick how it spread through.”

Ms Kuit has ridden RSPCA rescue pony Number Four - who was given his name because he was fourth out of the horse box - for six months.

Devastated Ms York, who suffered a bruised eye when one of the animals head-butted her in the panic, said the fire destroyed 100 tonnes of hay, two blocks of stables, storage buildings, Ms Kuit’s car and two mobile homes and toilets.

She said: “Twenty-eight years I’ve been here - it was an accumulation of a lifetime’s work.”

A British Dressage show went ahead as planned at the centre on Saturday.

Ms York, who lives just yards from the hay barn and stables, had been due to compete but decided to pull out after the fire.

She said on Friday: “I’m not doing it because the horse has suffered some stress, because he is a stallion and he had to be shut in the horse box all night. And I can’t think straight.”

The centre has built temporary stables for the rescued horses out of scaffold rails and security fencing.

Ms York thanked the equestrian community for its “fantastic support”.

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service sent six pumps to the scene and had to remove a gas cylinder that was at risk of exploding.

Firefighters stayed at the centre until 2.30pm on Friday, and investigating officers have been working this week to discover the cause of the blaze, which was believed to have started in the hay barn.

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