Post by coots on Dec 11, 2013 16:14:49 GMT -5
newsday
With Assist From Hay, Horse Rescued From Pool
Deborah Hopkins, rear, looks on as her horse Quartermoon is rescued by Suffolk County police emergency service officers after falling into a pool in the backyard of her home on Oakdale-Bohemia Road in Bohemia
Deborah Hopkins of Bohemia woke up Wednesday to a distressing sight: Her quarter horse was standing belly deep and shivering in the covered, backyard in-ground swimming pool.
Within an hour the horse was bailed out of her predicament, thanks to a good idea from Hopkins, plenty of elbow grease from police -- and six bales of hay.
Somehow, possibly frightened during the night by a deer, the 2-year-old named Quartermoon had gotten out of the nearby barn and jumped the fence into the backyard, Hopkins said.
Before police arrived in response to the 8:34 a.m. call, Hopkins devised a plan to build a platform in the water around 2 1/2 to 3 feet deep out of bales of hay brought over by a neighbor.
The idea was to provide Quartermoon, 64 inches tall at the shoulder, with "something she could step on closer to the [pool] edge," said Hopkins, 61.
A team that included Suffolk County emergency service officers constructed the platform, covering it with plywood and strips of rubber, Hopkins said. Then, assisted by a strong strap around the horse's hind quarters, the crew coaxed the horse up onto the makeshift shelf, and, with much splishing and splashing, pulled her out of the pool.
Apart from a banged-up right hind leg and some swelling, she was "doing really well," having been checked out by her equine veterinarian, who gave her, among other things, a shot for pain. Ther horse also got a rub down with some beach towels as well as a nice warm mash, Hopkins said.
During the ordeal, Hopkins said all she could think of was the possibility of her breaking a leg.
In the wake of the happy ending, she said she was "totally relieved and thankful to all those guys who all worked so hard. There was a lot of manpower there."
As a veterinarian herself she treats small animals at Meadowbrook Animal Hospital in Freeport. Hopkins says she has a mantra about horses: "If there is a way to hurt themselves, they will find it."
With Assist From Hay, Horse Rescued From Pool
Deborah Hopkins, rear, looks on as her horse Quartermoon is rescued by Suffolk County police emergency service officers after falling into a pool in the backyard of her home on Oakdale-Bohemia Road in Bohemia
Deborah Hopkins of Bohemia woke up Wednesday to a distressing sight: Her quarter horse was standing belly deep and shivering in the covered, backyard in-ground swimming pool.
Within an hour the horse was bailed out of her predicament, thanks to a good idea from Hopkins, plenty of elbow grease from police -- and six bales of hay.
Somehow, possibly frightened during the night by a deer, the 2-year-old named Quartermoon had gotten out of the nearby barn and jumped the fence into the backyard, Hopkins said.
Before police arrived in response to the 8:34 a.m. call, Hopkins devised a plan to build a platform in the water around 2 1/2 to 3 feet deep out of bales of hay brought over by a neighbor.
The idea was to provide Quartermoon, 64 inches tall at the shoulder, with "something she could step on closer to the [pool] edge," said Hopkins, 61.
A team that included Suffolk County emergency service officers constructed the platform, covering it with plywood and strips of rubber, Hopkins said. Then, assisted by a strong strap around the horse's hind quarters, the crew coaxed the horse up onto the makeshift shelf, and, with much splishing and splashing, pulled her out of the pool.
Apart from a banged-up right hind leg and some swelling, she was "doing really well," having been checked out by her equine veterinarian, who gave her, among other things, a shot for pain. Ther horse also got a rub down with some beach towels as well as a nice warm mash, Hopkins said.
During the ordeal, Hopkins said all she could think of was the possibility of her breaking a leg.
In the wake of the happy ending, she said she was "totally relieved and thankful to all those guys who all worked so hard. There was a lot of manpower there."
As a veterinarian herself she treats small animals at Meadowbrook Animal Hospital in Freeport. Hopkins says she has a mantra about horses: "If there is a way to hurt themselves, they will find it."