April 2021 Issue

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EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN April 2021 Page 35 East Coast Equestrian P.O. Box 8412, Lancaster, PA 17604-8412 (717) 509-9800 E-mail: PAEquest@aol.com www.eastcoastequestrian.net Published by Pennsylvania Equestrian, LLC Stephanie Shertzer Lawson, Editor and Publisher Contributors Marcella Peyre-Ferry, Suzy Lucine, Suzanne Bush, Amy Worden, Lois Szymanski, Sylvia Sidesaddle Advertising Manager Debbie Reid Advertising Sales Manager Phyllis Hurdleston Published 11 times a year. Submissions of articles, events and photos are welcome and should be received by the 10th of the month preceding publication. Please call (717) 509-9800 for advertising rates or visit www.pennsylvaniaequestrian.com. We cannot accept copyrighted photos without permission from owner. You must have permission before reprinting anything from East Coast Equestrian. For permission please call (717) 509-9800 or email steph@eastcoastequestrian.net Tall Dark Stranger is Horse of the Year driven three Horse of the Year winners. “It feels amazing,” Takter said. “To have the opportunity just to be involved with these great horses is a humbling expe- rience. A lot of people put faith in me to make champions when we buy horses as yearlings and to be able to execute on that is a very rewarding feeling.” Trotter of the Year Gim- panzee counted the Breeders Crown Open Trot, Hambleto- nian Maturity, John Cashman Memorial, Graduate Series championship, and Caesars Trotting Classic among his wins last season. He became only the third trotter in history to capture a Breeders Crown at ages 2, 3, and 4. Gimpanzee, who was a Dan Patch Award winner at 2 in 2018, is owned by Courant Inc. and S R F Stable. The stallion is a son of Chapter Seven out of Steamy Windows and was bred by Order By Stable. He is Melander’s second Trotter of the Year, joining Greenshoe in 2019. There were no unanimous divisional champions. Tall Dark Stranger, Gimpanzee, Party Girl Hill, Bettor’s Wish, Ramo- na Hill, and Amigo Volo each received at least 97 percent of the votes in their respective divisions. The closest race was among older female trotters, where Manchego won 72-58 over Atlanta. (Continued from page 34) By Amy Worden When Christine Hajek got the call from the Howard County Fire Department on February 22 that an aged horse was stuck in the mud not too far from her farm in Mt. Airy, MD she rallied her husband and volunteers and raced to the scene. But these were not simply good-hearted volunteers with work gloves. Hajek, founder of Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue and her husband Jamie are retired firefighters and they brought with them the skills and equipment that would make the difference between life and death for the entrapped horse. Hershey, a 37-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse, had slipped in the heavy mud and fallen on his way from his field to the barn at a farm in Marriotts- ville. For seven hours his owners tried to get him up. At their wit’s end, they called 911. “I was terrified,” owner Harley Michaud told WBAL-TV. “We called 12 different vets and no one would come out.” Hajek and her team and the fire company were ready to deploy thanks to training and sev- eral critical purchases made nine months ago for Gentle Giants’ Technical Large Animal Rescue Team. Last summer the rescue bought a heavy-duty sled, pulleys and other supplies needed to Team Effort Saves 37 Year Old Horse Mired in the Mud move, lift and prop up a downed horse. At the same time, Ha- jek said she reached out to the Howard County Fire Depart- ment about conducting trainings and partnering on large animal rescues. By the time the team arrived to help Hershey it was after dark. Heavy snow and ice and sub-freezing temperatures added to the difficulty of the rescue. Hershey’s attempts to ex- tricate himself had made things worse and he had exhausted himself in the process. “He had paddled so hard he dug himself a pit,” Hajek said. “Then he was really stuck and couldn’t get up.” Hajek said euthanasia was a real possibility and would have been a certainty without the equipment. Even with it, she wasn’t sure he’d make it. “He was so exhausted, he was barely responsive,” she said. The rescue crew was able to secure Hershey to a sled and drag him a few hundred feet to firmer, higher ground by the barn, said Hajek. Then they used belts, pulleys and a crane set up to lift him upright. As the team hoisted Hershey upright, he was still not making an effort to stand. “It was touch and go,” she said. That’s when Hajek brought his owner out to talk to him. “We let his owner come and touch him and talk to him,” she said. “He perked up.” Hajek said her team has worked on four or five other rescues since purchasing the equipment but others did not have happy endings. “Sometimes horse owners wait too long to get help,” she said. Last year Gentle Giants hosted a three-day training for the fire department where Hajek showed firefighters how the advanced life-saving equipment works using an 800-pound life- size model of a horse and how to properly remove a horse from a smoky barn. As for Hershey, Hajek reports she went to visit him and he’s doing just fine. The Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue’s Technical Large Animal Rescue is avail- able to horse owners 24/7 within a two-hour drive of Mt. Airy, Md. They require a vet- erinarian be on the scene and request a $500 donation for the service. Call (443) 285- 3835. Hershey, a 37 year old Tennessee Walking horse, dug himself into a pit after falling in mud on his way to the barn. Exhausted from struggling, he did not attempt to stand on his own after being extricated until he heard his owner’s voice and felt his touch. Photo credit: Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services