A horse of Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch needed Sunday afternoon after he fell through the ice on a frozen pond west of Loveland.
Units of Loveland Fire Rescue Authority and Berthoud Fire Protection District were responded to the scene on Larimer County Road 31d at 13:22. They found a horse immersed in icy water, unable to climb on their own.
According to Loveland Fire Rescue Authority Battalion Chief Jayson Starck, Ranch -employees realized that something was wrong when another horse on the building showed signs of emergency.
“They are herd animals and they pay attention to each other to a certain extent,” said Starck. “And that was pretty upset, from what I understood before we got there.”
Starck said the horse was immersed for about 45 minutes before LFRA arrived. Once on stage, the crews used rescue tires to secure the horse before they manually put it back on more solid soil. In total, the operation lasted about 15 minutes, said Starck.
“Horses clearly weigh a lot, and if they are exhausted, as that horse was, it can’t really help,” explained the battalion chef. “So you have to think of a way to get it safely about the 3 feet or so big ledge that she was behind.”
Crews then used stoves and blankets to heat the horse before a veterinarian treated it on the ranch.
This is the second time this year that LFRA has been called upon to save an animal in icy water. On January 9, crews pulled a horse from another pond near Larimer County Road 13 in South Loveland.
Starck said that LFRA, although unusual, usually processes a handful of large animal rescue per year.
“Whether it is a horse caught in the fence or cows that fall upside down in ditches, we often have to take them out,” he said.
But Ice Sharning still adds a layer of difficulty, Starck continued.
“Often, when they are in a ditch or crack or something, we can usually get a tap,” he said. “Then it is relatively easy to secure and lift them. But if they are in the middle of a pond, of course we don’t have a tap that is big enough to reach and grab them. So it becomes all manual labor, and you have to deal with cold temperatures and the dangers that are accompanied by it. “
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