# Horse Rescue



## ClimbinArbor (May 18, 2008)

Me and the old lady went down to oklahoma for the weekend. it was my sisters graduation, and my father invited us to come stay for the weekend. seeing how i have been couped up in the city for the longest, i wanted to spend as much time on the river as i could. so i decided to put a few bank poles out and see if i could catch a few kittyfish. so i headed down to the swollen river(20' deep with only 6' of very steep bank.) and took the ol lady with me. we got them set and went to the house for some bbq. worked on the jeep hung up a hammock, then we went and ran lines. the land i chose to fish was owned by a friend of mines father, and was only a half of a mile from the house, and they had a heard of horses, mules, donkeys, and even mini donkeys lol. well we played with the horses for awhile after running lines and went back home till dark. then came and checked lines again.

The last pole of the night had not one but two banks, because it had a sandy clay bar which was about 17' out from the actual river bank. it had about a foot of water in it and and a fair size pool at the tip of the bar, which is where i put my pole. after checking the pole i turned to climb the quicksand like bank(a nasty combination of red clay and sand, which i was taught at a young age to deal with). I spotted the young black horse out of the corner of my eye from another 20' upstream through thick brush and briars. she only moved a twitch, if she hadnt moved i would have never seen her. she was chest deep in the fast moving river in between two half submerged briar bushes. she had one leg stuck knee deep in a quicksand like spot on the bank, which gets worse the more you fight it if you dont get out soon. she had tried the bank quite a few times and made the bank above her very steep in the process. i went down and rubbed her head and neck for just a minute and went to call the cavalry. 

the only gear we could find was one 20'(theres alot of twenty foot involved here hey) tow strap, a bridal and lead rope, my handsaw, shovels, and jeep mounted 8000lb Warn winch. Not one damn block or pully. i had a 150 arborplex and a micro pulley, along with my saddle and a couple saws, with me for the weekend... none of which helped. the built up jeep was the only thing that could make it anywhere near the horse. the horses owner had a tractor with a frontend loader, but it would take an hour to make a path to the horse with the bucket, and even then the bank would not hold the weight of the machine... no trees around the horse for me to rig to anyway. only a one foot DBH sycamore to far out to do me any good, alot of 3"-4" trees, and brush.

with me, the owner, and his son chest deep in the the quick river we started to dig. our "groundies" (the owners wife, other son, a friend of their family, and my old lady.) got the winch line to us. my father ran the winch controls, and repositioned the jeep when needed. we got the horses feet freed and put the tow strap made harness on her. we were able to get the horses body weight out of the water. then it got tough. the bank had become so steep that it had to be dug down, while we cut 1" briar stubs 6" deep in the sand. the jeep is repositioned on the muddy bank(it had flooded and just dropped into its banks a day ago. my father handed the jeep controls to someone else to, get in the river too and help with the loss of floating horse weight. it seemed like forever that we where pushing, pulling, swimming, become stuck in the muck ourselves, shoveling and rubbing the shaking horses body to try and get her warm. the horse tryed to get up on her own to soon three times, causing the entire process to be repeated. 

finally we got the horse up onto the top of the sandy bar. we rubbed her furiosly and rolled her in between the bar and the bank, with her feet down bank of her and facing the way out through the brush. the horse was tired, very tired. She had been in the river for atleast a few hours. after being in it for a short time myself i wasnt cold, but i was worn out and soaked to the bone. we let the horse catch her breath, but she didnt have any strength. we all got our hands in and the lead roap had the groundies on it. with the horse ready we tried to get her to her feet. she managed to get her front feet under her.... but that was all. the horse didnt have the energy. she had fough to long in the cold water and was in shock half way up the bank. with the nearest vet 3 hours out, she was done... 

the owners wife, the true owner possibly, made the decision that we all knew was coming. the last try had been the absolute best try anyone could have hoped for. she had hypothermia, fluid on her lungs, and was shaking uncontrollably. she had to be put down. the fastest most human thing possible, with a vet so far out it would only further pain her, was done. 

if you are not teary eyed already. the horse was due to drop a foal in a month, to young to perform a c section..... was a rough weekend for us all and everyone ive talked to since is still choked up. as any horse owner can tell you, that horse was worth more to many people than most humans on this earth. 


:angel:


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## oldirty (May 18, 2008)

at the very least you can say you gave her (the horse) your best. 

i thank you for that.


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## ClimbinArbor (May 19, 2008)

we certainly did that. i could barely move the next morning, i was so tired. fighting the river was the worst. i was the only one who knew how to get out of the quicksand, so i had to pull the others out. when the horse would fight all hell would break loose, one guy got kicked good. my father took a headbutt to the chest that knocked him back into some of the briar bushes in the river. i had to dive backwards into the river once to avoid being squished, was quite a swim with volume of water and the undertows... i got my ankle that i just broke a couple of months ago stepped on. 

it was particularly rough for my old lady. she is a city girl and doesnt know how these things work. she went from being able to walk freely and pet a herd of equine for the first time, to hearing one put down in under 6 hours....


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## BlueRidgeMark (May 19, 2008)

Tough weekend. Thanks for trying.


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## spacemule (May 20, 2008)

> as any horse owner can tell you, that horse was worth more to many people than most humans on this earth.


I've known a lot of horse owners and have owned a few myself, and very few of us would make this statement.

Be that as it may, sorry about your loss.


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## ShoerFast (May 20, 2008)

Good job Climbin!  

Now for the $10 dollar question?

Are they sure the mare was due next month? Was she bagged up at all? (utters) 

It is more then a hunch, but if there off by 1 breeding cycle,(28 days) or the horse was pasture-breed, there is a chance it was due now?

Mares can do some strange things to try to hide from other livestock when there about to drop.

My $0.02 cents worth, it's worth mentioning it to them if there novice horse-breeders, just in case they would like to foal there own again sometime,,,,,,and they are better separated.


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## ClimbinArbor (May 20, 2008)

dont know how she bred. when i was putting the harness on her i could feel a litle bag, like maybe two table spoons....


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## ClimbinArbor (May 20, 2008)

im fairly sure the hole herd was mares though, from what i saw, and we played with them all that day for quite awhile.


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## ShoerFast (May 20, 2008)

ClimbinArbor said:


> im fairly sure the hole herd was mares though, from what i saw, and we played with them all that day for quite awhile.



Mare will try to hide there foal from other mares more then anything. 

Mares with out foals will try to steel a foal. 

She might have been going into labor , or was close to it. 

Not trying to cast a blame, a mistake is when something happens twice, but if it were me, it would be something worth mentioning. 

Close to due mares should have there 'quite-place' a few weeks ahead of time.


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## ClimbinArbor (May 20, 2008)

man like i needed to feel worse.... im fairly confident in the owners knowledge concerning the breeding dates. but would hate to think we could have saved one.....


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## oldirty (May 20, 2008)

ClimbinArbor said:


> man like i needed to feel worse.... im fairly confident in the owners knowledge concerning the breeding dates. but would hate to think we could have saved one.....





dont think like that bud. you did all you could.


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