WHEN a pensioner was unable to pick up her prescription because of the snowy weather, a west Oxfordshire school’s pet pony sprang into action.

Staff from Kingham Hill School, near Chipping Norton, set off to a chemist shop in nearby Moreton-in-Marsh, in Gloucestershire, in a 4x4 to get the medication, and brought it back to the school.

Fell pony Jake was then harnessed to a sledge so Lucy Savage could deliver the medicine to the home of Shirley Floyd, a former employee of the school, down a steep hill that was too treacherous even for a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Mrs Savage, the wife of the school’s chaplain, runs the school’s animal club. She said: “Jake flew back up the hill at a brisk trot while I enjoyed the ride – it was exhilarating and the road was packed snow all the way.”

Sheila Kelly, marketing co-ordinator at the school, said: “Jake is a fell pony, so used to heavy snow and very sure-footed.

“He’s also an experienced driving pony, so took to the sledge straight away.”