Pictured: Sugar Creek and Buck Creek Township firefighters helped save Lola. Their first goal was getting her out of the cold water. Submitted photos
HANCOCK COUNTY — Lola, a Tennessee Walking Horse in her late 20s, is lucky to be alive.
First-responders from the Sugar Creek and Buck Creek Township fire departments helped rescue the mare last week after she’d fallen into Sugar Creek and couldn’t get up. The creek runs through a pasture on private property in the 1000 block of North County Road 200W where the horse’s owners board their two horses.
When Lola didn’t come up with her pasture mates, like she usually does for breakfast, the people at the barn where Lola stays knew something was amiss. They immediately started walking the fence line looking for Lola and eventually found her fallen and submerged in the creek bed soaked from head to tail. They said she was exhausted from holding her head up to keep from it going underwater and drowning.
When she was found on Tuesday morning, Nov. 30, the temperature was in the low 30s.
The firefighters, using specialized equipment, were finally able to pull the 1,000-pound horse out of the water, but the danger was not over.
Veterinarian Dr. Natalie Skillman arrived to help Lola, who was shaking violently from the loss of body heat.
Skillman said the horse’s body temperature was registering 91 degrees when Lola was pulled from the water. Normal temperature for a horse is similar to that for humans, between 98 and 100 degrees. Her heart rate was five times what her normal resting heart rate should be.
The horse was hooked up an IV, and her rescuers worked quickly with towels, blankets, heat packs and hay to get her warm.
Firefighters eventually placed straps under Lola so they could raise her using hydraulics from a tractor. At first, Lola just hung from the makeshift sling and was not making an effort to stand, but over the next 10 minutes she slowly started to bear weight on all four limbs. She even started to eat hay while bearing all of her own weight.
Skillman posted about the experience on her Facebook page and thanked the firefighters for helping save Lola.
Jennifer Cross, Lola’s owner, commented on Skillman’s post about the incident, thanking everyone involved, including the vet.
“Words cannot describe the gratitude I feel toward all the wonderful and skilled people who participated in the rescue of my beloved Lola,” Cross said. “Pulling her from that shallow, watery grave and offering her warmth, comfort and expert treatment, could only be accomplished by a team of amazing and compassionate (and strong!) individuals. The world needs more people like them.”
On Sunday, Dec. 5, Cross said Lola seems to be fully recovered.
“She’s back to being the ‘old gray mare,’ who loves to graze and hang out with her horse mates,” Cross said.
