Yep. Aly saved a horse.
I posted this tweet and facebook status update earlier this evening and it certainly caused some chatter on facebook:
http://twitter.com/#!/mattdantodd/status/5061294826721280
So, here’s what happened…
As I was walking home from the church office, Aly called over to me from our neighbors’ yard. “Dad! Doc’s stuck!”
I wasn’t sure what she meant. I didn’t think it was anything too serious. But she was pretty concerned. So I walked over to see what was going on.
Turns out she was right. One of the horses that lives behind us had somehow managed to get his foot caught in fencing material and he was, in fact, stuck. His right rear hoof was trapped and he could not move. While he was relatively calm, I wasn’t about to let Aly go into the yard and do anything. There was still a chance he could start to panic. And I really didn’t have anything like bolt cutters that could cut through the fence. We stayed with Doc until help could come.
Since he was only standing on three feet, my biggest concern was that he might eventually fall over.
Another neighbor came over. He started looking for some bolt cutters and eventually got the attention of the Amish men who have been working on our neighbors’ barn. They came over, assessed the situation, went back into the barn, and came back with the right tools.
The ever-elusive bolt cutters.
Within about five minutes, Doc was freed unscathed from his wiry trap of potential death. Well…he did have a little bit of blood showing on a different hoof. But nothing life-threatening.
Who knows how long Doc had been stuck there? And who knows how long he would’ve been stuck there if Aly hadn’t seen him and spoken up?
Shortly after we got home, Alyson said, “I can’t wait to go to school tomorrow and tell my friends that I saved Doc’s life!”
Yes you did, Aly. Yes you did!
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Great job, Aly! I know from having my own little horse whisperer (well, she’s a big girl now) that you horse girls know your horses!! Glad to hear Doc was rescued!
What a hero(ine)!