Photo credit: Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services
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, 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 Marriottsville. For seven hours his owners tried to get him up. At their wit’s end, they called 911.
“I was terrified,” Harley Michoud 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 several 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 move, lift and prop up a downed horse. At the same time, Hajek said she reached out to the Howard County Fire Department 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 extricate 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 ahim 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 available to horse owners 24/7 within a two-hour drive of Mt. Airy, Md. They require a veterinarian be on the scene and request a $500 donation for the service. Call (443) 285-3835.