A Horse fell on Big Wood Lake: Wisconsin friends’ team up for rescue
The incident happens in the Big Wood Lake near the Village of Grantsburg. This lake is well known for fishing. A mustang horse escaped from its home barn, and while wandering around, he fell on the Big Wood Lake, which was fully covered with ice. A team of dozens of people team up and rescue the horse successfully, and Ryan was one of them.
How does this incident happen?
• On Saturday, the owner was out Christmas Shopping, and the falling of a snow-covered tree broke down the fence. Seeing the chance horse ran away from its barn. Later, when the owners discovered the horse was missing, they posted about it on social media, which caught their attention of Ryan. And he starts searching all around the town.
• After searching for a while, they lost all the horse tracks and thought the horse might be headed home after wandering around, as many horses usually do.
• On Sunday, one of his neighbors called 911 to report the feeling of a horse through the ice, which is 150-200 yards off-shore.
• After hearing the news, Ryan was on his way to the rescue. On his way, he called horse peoples around the area and a bunch of mutual friends. At 8:30 a.m. Sunday, the rescue team started gathering, and the temperature was -5.
• The ice of Woodlake is only 3-4 inches thin due to the warm temperature of the preceding week, which insulated the snow cover. It was one of the biggest obstacles in rescue because the ice hardly met the threshold of walking or skating, so bringing heavier equipment for rescue, like a tow, was out of the question.
• The horse was in 15-17 feet of water at that time, and his condition was severe. His head was resting on the ice, he was shivering uncontrollably, he was breathing difficulty, and his nostril was full of ice.
• Along with other rescuers, Ryan devised a plan and used nylon straps, ropes, and innertubes for rescue. It was a challenging task to perform a rescue without an ATV. They made several trips back and forth to bring different supplies.
• After 4 hours of rescue, at 12:45 p.m., the horse was pulled out from the ice, and then the team dragged him for 150 yards to shore. Then the horse was bought to the heated barn of another person.
• On Monday, the horse was brought to the veterinary clinic, where he gets treatment and recovering slowly from hypothermia.
Conclusion:
Along with the rescue team, the will power and strength of the mustang horse are equally appreciable for the horse’s survival. The horse saved himself too.
