​A shire horse foal from Bath has become one of the first horses in the country to be given the gift of sight – and of life – following a revolutionary operation.

Mary-Anne was born blind three weeks ago at a farm in Langridge and, normally, would have been put down immediately.

But owners Donald MacIntyre and Jane Lippington decided to try to save her.

“She had congenital cataracts and her eyes were all milky,” said Mr MacIntyre. “Normally a foal like that would be put down, but we’d heard about this new operation. We had to wait until she was two weeks old, so while she waited we put her in a padded paddock, so she didn’t hurt herself.”

New artificial cataracts were made in Germany, and the five-hour operation was carried out by surgeons at the Bushy Equine Clinic near Dursley in Gloucestershire.

“It is wonderful, as soon as she came around we could tell that she could see, but now she has to un-learn everything she learnt when she was blind, and re-learn things now she can see,” Mr MacIntyre added.