AN HEROIC schoolteacher ran into a burning barn to rescue his beloved horse after an arson attack on Friday.

Chris Almond, 31, of St Nicholas Close, North Bradley, raced into the barn at Brokerswood and led his horse Sage past the flames to safety.

Mr Almond, who rides Sage in dressage events, said: "At the time it was frightening but you don't really think about it because you have just got to do something.

"Afterwards I just collapsed into the yard, my legs went like jelly and I bawled my eyes out."

Mr Almond, a chemistry teacher at Shaftesbury School, keeps his three horses at stables owned by friends Ken and Mary Gicquel. The couple's three animals were also in the stables at the time of the attack.

Mr Almond had been at the stables in the afternoon but had left at about 8pm to ride a friend's horse nearby.

When he returned about an hour later he could see the flames as he drove towards the stables.

Terrified horses were running around the yard and Mr Almond went to the barn to grab headcollars to try and control them. He found 16-hand Sage still in his stall, too frightened to move.

"I was lucky that he trusted me enough to come with me as horses are notorious with fire - they just stay still," he said. "I don't like to think what could have happened if I hadn't been there.

It is thought someone got into the barn while Mr Almond was gone, between 8pm and 9pm, and set fire to hay kept in the stables.

The doors to the horses' stalls had been opened up so that the animals had a chance to escape the blaze.

Mr and Mrs Gicquel were in Wales and received a phone call to tell them what had happened.

Mr Gicquel, 61, said: "We have been here 17 years and we have never had anything like this happen.

"It took real courage for Christopher to go in there like that. They obviously wanted to burn the barn but didn't really want to hurt the horses, but that may not have been what happened."

The horses are recovering from their ordeal but the fire caused more than £10,000 of damage. Fire crews were at the scene until after midnight and agricultural contractor Chris Awdry was called in to help remove six tonnes of smouldering shavings from the building.

A similar incident occurred at nearby Greenhill Farm in 2004 when a caravan was burnt to the ground. Mr and Mrs Gicquel believe their stables may have been targeted by someone mistakenly believing they are a part of the farm.