Feb. 19 (UPI) — Firefighters and animal rescuers teamed up in Ohio to rescue a horse that wandered away from its pasture and ended up stranded in a neighbor’s backyard swimming pool.
Melissa Freeman Starkey said on social media that she was alerted Wednesday morning to the fact that there was a horse in the swimming pool outside her home on Crescent Road in St. Clairsville.
She posted multiple videos showing the rescue efforts of the Barton Fire Department, Colerain Volunteer Fire Company and Julie Moorehead Larish of Belmont County Hoof & Paw.
Larish said she arrived on the scene to find the horse’s front legs were on top of the pool cover, while its hind legs had broken through to the cold water.
“The cover would creak every time he shifted his weight,” Larish told WTRF-TV. “It sounded like ice cracking, and that’s when he would panic.”
Larish said she fed the horse grain and spoke to it softly to keep it calm while firefighters worked to cut away sections of the pool cover to free the equine’s legs.
The pool cover was successfully cut away and the rescuers were able to lead the horse to the pool stairs, where it was able to climb out.
Larish said the horse was cold and appeared to have soreness in its legs as a result of the time they spent in the cold water, but did not seem seriously injured.
The horse was safely returned to its home at a neighboring property.