July 24th, 2009-Belgian Draft Horse Is Trapped In Mud
Updated at August 11, 2009 14:48
On July 24th, 2009 @ 8:40am, MERS responded to a call for a Belgian Draft horse that was stuck in mud. When the owner first noticed the trapped horse, it was stuck up to it’s neck in mud. It is theorized that something frightened the horse, and forced it into this situation. The horse was actually in a deep, mucky, sewer field. MERS received a call for assistance from a veterinarian that was on the scene. The horse had been thrashing around trying to get out, but just kept getting deeper in the mucky area.
When MERS arrived on the scene, we immediately placed our Shank Head Protector on the horse. Prior to our arrival, the owner had been throwing down shavings in an attempt to make the area a little more solid, and the veterinarian administered some medications to calm the horse down. We placed our long webbing around the incumbent horse’s torso, using our special Bill Hook to accomplish this. Once it was in place, we were able to safely pull the horse out of the muck with the assistance of the owner’s tractor. We had our Mud Rescue Kit on standby, just in case it was needed. Once the horse was safely out of the muck, the horse immediately tried to get up, but the horse was just too exhausted. We then removed our long webbing, placed our two MERS short webbings around the horse, connected our spreader bar to the webbing, and lifted the horse up into an upright, horizontal position. The horse was now being supported by our equipment, but the horse was still too unstable to stand on it’s own. After several moments of massaging the horse’s muscles, we were then able to release all of our equipment, and walk the horse out.
The horse was washed off, examined by the veterinarian, and was expected to have a speedy and full recovery.
MERS debriefed, then traveled back to homebase, where all of the equipment was thouroughly cleaned and decontaminated.