Litchfield volunteer firefighters and a workers from the town's public works department pull a horse out of a well on Friday at Lee's Riding Stable on East Litchfield Road. (John McKenna / Republican American)
Posted on 01/30/2010 7:09:50 AM PST by Graybeard58
LITCHFIELD — It's not a call often heard on police scanners: "Horse into a well."
But on a bitterly cold and windy Friday, firefighters responded to Lee's Riding Stable, where a 3-year-old Morgan named Windfield Effervescence somehow fell into an 8-foot-deep well.
Stable workers found the horse about 2 p.m. It had been stuck neck-deep in water for at least an hour, said Lee Lyons, the owner of the stable where she breeds and boards horses. Other horses that had been in the field with Windfield Effervesence were standing near the well, which had a wooden cover that the horse somehow broke through, Lyons said.
"How she got in there, I don't know," Lyons said. "It was just one of those crazy things a horse does."
The temperature early Friday afternoon in Litchfield was in the teens, with wind gusts of up to 40 mph.
Lyons called 911, prompting a quick response by firefighters. It's a time when living in a small town with volunteer firefighters has its unexpected benefits: Fire Chief James C. Koser also is supervisor of the public works department.
He called in some of his crew. Bring a backhoe, he told them.
Using what are known as pike poles, firefighters were able to get straps around the horse so it could be lifted out using the backhoe. "It was really a simple operation," Deputy Fire Chief Ed Evers said. "We got a couple of straps around her and she came right out."
Cold and wet with cuts on her legs, the horse was covered in blankets and walked to a barn for treatment by an equine veterinarian. She is expected to make a full recovery, Lyons said. Animal control investigated and ruled the incident an accident.
"They did a great job," Lyons said. "Every time I see them, I tell them just how much I love them for what they do."
Litchfield volunteer firefighters and a workers from the town's public works department pull a horse out of a well on Friday at Lee's Riding Stable on East Litchfield Road. (John McKenna / Republican American)
Nice, “uplifting” story for a Sat. morning. Thanks for posting.
As a retired Firefighter I have to say that Fire Departments often get to do things that others either cannot or will not do. From rescuing animals to cutting tree’s, downed in storms. From rescuing people from cranes high in the air to digging out others in collapsed holes.
From picking up pieces of wreckage on the highway to picking up pieces of what is left of human beings. Fire Fighting is the name of the game, but anything any other Department in a government cannot do is left to Firefighters. When other’s are pulling out, we are pulling in.
Leni
All’s well that ends well.
Animal control investigated and ruled it an accident?
Does this small town have a problem with horse owners pushing their horses into wells?
That happened less than 10 miles from where I live. FReepers are everywhere.
Cudda been vandalism.
We had a horse fall into a frozen pond on a local farm some years ago and, yup, the fire department came to the rescue.
Not to disparage fire fighters or volunteer fire fighters but a little over 40 years ago, in small town Missouri, a friend and I witnessed a late night car crash. The car rounded a curve, lost control and slammed into the only funeral home in town.
The car immediately burst into flames and we couldn’t get near it. We went to the nearest pay phone and called the volunteer fire department. They got there as soon as possible but it was way past the point of saving whoever was in that car and I don’t fault them for that.
However, after the fire was out, not one of the twenty or so volunteers would pull the body out. My friend and I borrowed F.D. gloves and did it ourselves.
The body had wound up in the back seat, curled into a fetal position and was solid black from head to toe. His back split open when we moved him and the smell was like when you accidentally burn meat. We had to wait for the county coroner to get there to declare him dead and then we wheeled him directly to the funeral home.
We were both asked to join the V.F.D. and both declined.
I’m sure this is not representative of VFDs as a whole, just my experience.
Some people have a problem with puns, but to them I say, "Neigh, neigh!"
When they learned that this donkey was really not a Democrat ... "Underwood, Minn. firefighters tore down the walls of the well Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 at the Bryan Nelson residence about 10 miles northeast of Underwood, Minn. Firefighters dismantled the well to free the donkey."
I worked arson investigation for awhile, and you got very used to dealing with burnt bodies. Smell always bothered me, but it didn't keep me from doing my job.
Maybe it was a very small VFD, and they hadn't had many fire fatalities?
It was a small town, population about 1500 and they hadn’t had any fire fatalities that I was aware of.
A couple of years after that incident and I had moved away, the town made national news. A house fire had claimed the lives of 10 members of one family. I wondered how they had handled that.
Not representative at all.
I was a paid professional ,not a vilunteer, but I can say that what you saw is not what most volunteers are about.
God bless volunteer firemen!
Still oughta do their job though, and not leave it to passing good Samaritans. Hopefully with the house fire they manned up and did what they were supposed to do.
"If you need help, don't call 911, pull the fire alarm. They come!
Howz’ about none of 3,300 babies murdered in national abortion clinics rescued?
Horses and dolphins get more respect than the unborn. Sorry, no tear in my eye over this as long as helpless little infants are slaughter daily in so many ways. Would love to see just half of those people in the picture involved in saving the unborn.
Hence the immense popularity of the old TV series "Emergency". It showed all the things you out line in your comment, and emphasized how many lives are saved by firemen each year.
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