WARRENTON, Mo. — First responders rescued a horse stuck belly-deep in mud Sunday night. MERS-Large Animal Rescue volunteers worked with firefighters for hours to save the animal.
Water from a new hydrant ditch next to a barn in Warrenton trapped the horse. The MERS volunteers received a call about the animal at around 6 p.m. Sunday. Warrenton firefighters were on scene when they arrived.
The first attempt to lift the horse out of the mud failed. The suction from the mud was too much for the barn owner’s small tractor to handle. Volunteers dug mud from around the horse’s back legs to relieve some of the pressure.
A second attempt to lift the horse worked. First responders slid the animal out of the barn on a slide to a driveway. The horse was lifted using a tractor to stand on her own. She was able to walk and regained some of the circulation in her legs.
They hosed down the muddy equipment. The eleven workers, including firefighters, were finally finished at around 103:0 p.m.
The Warrenton Fire Protection District says that, “Without MERS-Large Animal Rescue volunteers and their equipment, this would have been a much more difficult rescue. Glad we could assist!”