Horse rescue!

It was last Thursday afternoon when I was out doing chores. Watering horses, making my rounds as usual. I went into the run-in shed and paddock where the colts and stud were kept to find our stallion Ace laying on his side, moaning.

Horse people will know, this is never a good thing. My mind raced thinking it could be colic and this was probably going to end badly. I let myself into the shed to urge Ace onto his feet and get him walking. The ground was packed and it looked like he'd been down for quite some time. Not good.

Ace moaned and groaned and lifted his head and put it back down in defeat. I saw his problem. It wasn't colic at all... he was cast! The old shed had slatted wooden partitions in it used for tie stalls at one time. He had laid down in one of the double wide tie stalls only to get his hindquarters and back legs underneath the boards. That was what kept him down.

 Al was late getting home from work so I was on my own. I tried pulling, but of course I could not pull a full sized adult horse. Rolling him was not an option as his legs were stuck. I came up with either a) remove the boards or b) get a tractor and pull him out. I tried A first.  I found a big sledge hammer and got the board holding the partition loose only to find it firmly anchored into the hay manger at the front of the stall. Looked like only a chain saw could get him out this way and since it was close to his hindquarters, that did not seem a good option.

That left B... tractor. I looked around for a long tow strap but couldn't find one so I patched together a lead rope and a ratchet strap. Not ideal but I was running out of time. Ace had been down a long time and I worried about damage to his organs from being cast. I started up the old Oliver 1655 and pulled slowly forward. The rope broke in minutes. Ace was now on his belly with head up rather than laying flat.

I went to find a longer rope and tied an old lasso to his halter and to the ratchet strap and lead rope. Again, not ideal for heavy pulling but I had to get him up! I inched the tractor ahead once more, watched the rope go tight and then... SNAP! Rope broke!  Bad thing was it came flying in my direction right at my head. There was a lot of pressure, luckily I was watching behind me to see into the shed. I ducked in time.

I put the tractor in neutral and go to check on Ace. Miraculously he was on his feet!  He appeared to be very stiff and sore but resumed eating and moving about the same evening. He was ok! I was so glad to see him up I gave him a big hug. I was starting to run out of rope and ideas.

When you have more that one horse, every once in a while one will get itself into some trouble. Luckily in this case everything turned out alright.