Jan 4, 2008 6:01 am US/Central
Horse Rescued After 2 Hours In Icy Pond
Firefighters Cut Channel Through Ice For Rescue
HEBRON, Ind. (Post-Tribune) ―
-
-
Dolly the draft horse is rescued from a freezing pond near Hebron, Ind.
Post-Tribune
Dolly the draught horse is warming up in a heated stable after spending as long as two hours treading water in an icy pond Thursday near Hebron.
The 2,000-pound horse fell through 4- to 6-inch-thick ice in the early morning, and may have been submerged for more than an hour before her owner, Patricia Hamilton, heard whinnying coming from the pasture around 8 a.m.
Rescue crews from the Lakes of the Four Seasons, Crown Point and Portage fire departments arrived on the scene, 15040 County Line Road outside Hebron, to find Dolly all but exhausted as she tried to keep her head above the near-freezing water.
"(The horse) was sort of floating, laying on her side with her head on the ice, maybe 100 feet from the edge," Lakes of the Four Seasons Fire Chief Kevin Radtke said. "It was near death, I suppose."
Firefighters first attempted to pull Dolly out with a harness strapped around her head, but quickly realized they couldn't bring enough men or heavy equipment onto the ice to pull the horse free. With Dolly fading fast, firefighters began cutting into the ice to carve a 50-foot long channel toward shallower water.
"We were brainstorming what we would do when we got there on the way there, and we hit on something that, it turned out, would work," Radtke said. "We usually use the chainsaws to cut holes in the ice when we do training."
Dolly, a typically stoic draught horse, remained calm even as the saws cut into ice only inches from her, said horse trainer Dave Dewell, who joined rescue crews on the ice to help keep the horse calm.
"She never seemed like she wanted to give up," Dewell said. "She wanted to keep fighting. She had a will to keep out."
When the channel through the ice reached a few feet from shore, Dolly was able to touch bottom and walk, though shivering violently, out of the pond to the Hamiltons, who waited with blankets.
Dewell kept the horse walking, eventually taking her indoors to warm up.
Dolly's core temperature, usually a little over 100 degrees, had dropped to 98, and her veterinarian initially worried that frostbite might claim her ears. All told, rescuers believe she might have spent more than two hours submerged.
Radtke said his firefighters have rescued people, deer and dogs from holes in the ice, but never a creature as large as Dolly.
"People might ask why we would rescue an animal, but it's more about the people," Radtke said. "They're concerned about the animals, so if we don't help, they'll try it, and then you've got a person falling through the ice."
Dolly seemed back to her old self Thursday afternoon, but the section of the pasture where the pond is located will be closed off until it thaws, Hamilton said.
"It was very difficult to watch," Hamilton said. "I commend the firefighters. They did a great job ... but we're not up for this again."
By Andy Grimm / Post-Tribunecbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages 
Slideshow: Most Popular Videos Of 2007 Slideshow: Newsmakers Remembered Slideshow: They Really Said It! Quotes From Celebrities In 2007 Slideshow: '90s TV Stars Then & Now Slideshow: What A Way To Go Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments