Prognosis good for horse that fell into spring

MONTANA -- A horse that was rescued from a spring where it had become trapped on Tuesday was treated and released later that evening, said a spokeswoman for Bridger Veterinary Hospital in Helena.

Sue Resch, the receptionist, said the animal hospital has not heard anything since the doctor who treated the horse, which had been submerged in water for possibly close to three hours, released it with instructions that it be kept in a heated barn.

“The doctor said the prognosis was really good,” she added.

The horse was cold and shivering when recovered from the spring and taken to the veterinary hospital.

“Horses are tough,” Resch said, noting that it was fortunate that the temperature was not as low as it had been last week when the Helena area and much of Montana saw double-digit below-zero temperatures.

It was this cold spell that created a shelf of ice around the spring where the horse normally goes to drink, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton had said.

The horse broke through the ice when it was attempting to get a drink.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mike Harris, a neighbor of the property on West Cabin Road, where the horse is being boarded, saw it in the water. He went into the water to try and rescue it.

A male caller had summoned help, and the county’s animal control officer and two deputies arrived.

A state Department of Livestock inspector from Townsend also arrived later with a horse trailer that was used to take the horse to the veterinary hospital.

The horse was almost entirely under water with just its eyes, ears and nose visible when the deputies arrived, Dutton had said.

Harris went back into the water and submerged himself to place a tow strap around the horse’s body that rescuers used with another strap around the horse’s neck to begin pulling it from the water.

They had the horse to the edge of the ice before it began to struggle as it tried to get its feet under itself and fell back into the water.

Rescuers again pulled it and got it free of the ice, mud and water.

(Helena Independent Record - ‎Dec 11, 2013‎)