Boone County firefighters pull out 2 horses that were stuck in mud hole
Ryan Shiner
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
More than a dozen Boone County firefighters were seen in the northern part of the county on Wednesday night trying to pull a horse out of a hole.
Firefighters were called around 7:18 p.m. to the 8400 block of Gray Road near Harrisburg. First responders were seen attempting to find ways to pull two horses out of the mud.
Boone County Fire Battalion Chief Clint Walker told ABC 17 News the horses’ owners discovered the animals stuck in the mud when they checked on them earlier in the day. He said the rescue was challenging because crews had to separate the horses, which were growing fatigued as they struggled to free themselves.
“This stuff here was like soup, so it was very, very sloppy,” Walker said, . “We got dispatched at 7:17, arrived shortly after, and found two horses buried in mud up over their back, the only thing sticking out was their heads.”
Both horses were pulled out alive by 9:50 p.m. One horse was immediately standing on its own will and given water and another was pulled away from the lagoon. The second horse was later to stand on its own power.
Eighteen members of the Boone County Fire Protection District responded to the scene, along with a large animal rescue trailer. Walker said about half of the firefighters on scene were trained in large animal rescue, an optional 40-hour course offered by the department.
BCFPD Assistant Chief Norman Hinkle said at the scene that the property used to be a hog farm. The area where the horses got stuck is an animal lagoon that was in the process of being drained, Hinkle said.
The lagoon was mostly drained, so it likely looked dry to the horses, Hinkle said. Officials don’t know how long the horses were stuck or how they got there.
Members of the University of Missouri Veterinarian School were at the scene. BCFPD partners with the vet school for large animal rescues, according to Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp.
Hinkle said a veterinarian would sedate the horses before officials would pull them out.