My hubby called me from outside saying..."Come hurry I need your help". I knew it was a horse situation. I hurriedly put on my boots, jackets and good work gloves and raced to the hay feeding corral. I instantly saw our tall 20 year old horse Ben lying on his side and his feet and legs were under the base of the feeder. Hubby said he caught his foot in the bars between the hay. He had moved Ben's foot out from the feeder bars before I got to him. Now the horse just lay there very still. All 4 of his legs were under the feeder still resting on the ground. I looked at Ben and could see his one eye looking up at me. I reassured Ben that we are going to help him and to stay calm. He was already calm and it seemed Ben knew he just had to lie quietly until we figured it out. Hubby said quickly to me to "take this rope and wrap it around Ben's back legs and then use hook to secure it and then tighten the rope like a secure lasso". We have to get Ben up as fast as we can.
Sometimes a horse will just lie there and die. "
I could hardly follow those instructions, as I was shaking. "Time is of the essence" says hubby and I could not figure out the rope hook as it would not stay attached to the other side in order to secure this around Ben's legs. "Twist it! Twist it! and keep twisting the metal ring at the base of the latch. Time is of the essence here"!.
I worked hard to calm down and focus. At last I did see what I needed to do to lock it in place and the loop was secured around his legs.
"Now I am going to get Ben's front legs up but we have to do this together". I ground my feet firmly and pulled the rope and the legs came up but I only had the 600 lb half of this horse and I was panting and getting weak from the pulling. Hubby's right arm is in a sling and is unusable so he was relying on me to play a major role in shifting Ben out from under this metal feeder. Finally hubby said "let's wrap this rope around my waist and you go and get his front legs out from under the feeder. We do this together and I will pull his back legs and you keep his front legs out from under the feeder."!
I was nervous that he would kick me if I touched his hooves and lifted them but hubby said that "Ben is not going to kick he just needs to know he is free from it."
I got his 2 front legs up above his head and once Ben saw his feet up in the air he rolled and got up on all fours and kicked the rope tied onto his back feet and gave himself a big earthquaking shake of the body and walked away. No limp just a little stiff and after an hour or two he was perfect. What an adrenalin rush!. I felt like I had lost 20 pounds and felt very weak. I recovered though as did Ben and my hubby. (as a note: I unfortunately did not actually lose 20 pounds baha!)
Horses like to roll and we are sure that Ben decided to get on the ground and roll onto his back as they get itchy and when he brought his legs back down his foot hit the feeder and got caught. We have had that happen with another horse rolling to close to the fence and getting his feet caught. It happens.
Relieved to have a successful rescue!
Sometimes a horse will just lie there and die. "
I could hardly follow those instructions, as I was shaking. "Time is of the essence" says hubby and I could not figure out the rope hook as it would not stay attached to the other side in order to secure this around Ben's legs. "Twist it! Twist it! and keep twisting the metal ring at the base of the latch. Time is of the essence here"!.
I worked hard to calm down and focus. At last I did see what I needed to do to lock it in place and the loop was secured around his legs.
"Now I am going to get Ben's front legs up but we have to do this together". I ground my feet firmly and pulled the rope and the legs came up but I only had the 600 lb half of this horse and I was panting and getting weak from the pulling. Hubby's right arm is in a sling and is unusable so he was relying on me to play a major role in shifting Ben out from under this metal feeder. Finally hubby said "let's wrap this rope around my waist and you go and get his front legs out from under the feeder. We do this together and I will pull his back legs and you keep his front legs out from under the feeder."!
I was nervous that he would kick me if I touched his hooves and lifted them but hubby said that "Ben is not going to kick he just needs to know he is free from it."
I got his 2 front legs up above his head and once Ben saw his feet up in the air he rolled and got up on all fours and kicked the rope tied onto his back feet and gave himself a big earthquaking shake of the body and walked away. No limp just a little stiff and after an hour or two he was perfect. What an adrenalin rush!. I felt like I had lost 20 pounds and felt very weak. I recovered though as did Ben and my hubby. (as a note: I unfortunately did not actually lose 20 pounds baha!)
Horses like to roll and we are sure that Ben decided to get on the ground and roll onto his back as they get itchy and when he brought his legs back down his foot hit the feeder and got caught. We have had that happen with another horse rolling to close to the fence and getting his feet caught. It happens.
Relieved to have a successful rescue!
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