Crews rescued a horse from a frozen pond in Campbell County.
The horse was pulled from a pond in the
7400 block of Mary Ingles Highway in Melbourne, Kentucky Wednesday afternoon.
A walking horse named Pencil walked into the wrong spot on Wednesday morning in search of water.
Owner Dough Oldiges came home from a night of plowing snow to find his six-year-old horse missing.
"I just walked over and looked over by the cattails, and here he is in the pond with his head sticking above the water," said Oldiges.
At first neighbors tried to dig a bigger hole using an axe to get him out until firefighters arrived.
After putting Pencil in a horse sling, eight people tried to lift him out, but it didn't work.
"These are very tricky rescues due to the fact that we are out in the ice. For safety measures, we have to make sure the proper equipment is here before we can start our work, because we don't our guys to become part of the problem," said Chief Jeff Pohlman of the Alexandria Fire District.
The second attempt to pull the 1,000 pound horse out also was unsuccessful.
Members of the Northern Kentucky Technical Rescue Team then brought in plywood and put on wet suits.
Oldiges fed him grain to try and keep Pencil calm.
Then came the final push.
"We kind of let the ice work to our advantage, and we slid the horse right out on its side," said Chief Pohlman.
The vet came to check on Pencil, and gave him warm fluids. His temperature is now back to normal and he is expected to make a full recovery.
