Stuck Wild Horse Rescued In Maricopa County Now Up And Walking

PHOENIX, AZ — Neiman the wild horse was up and walking slowly and gingerly a day after he was rescued from being stuck in a grate and injured near the Pebble Beach Recreation Area, northeast of Phoenix.

Both of Neiman's hind legs were stuck in the grate and one was cut to the bone, requiring many stitches, according to the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, which is now caring for him.

"This is unfortunately a life-threatening injury, but at least it's not broke," the group said in a Facebook post. "We are going to do everything in our power to fix him."

The group plans to release him back into the wild once he has recovered.

Neiman was rescued Wednesday morning by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, who found him bleeding and in obvious distress. Also helping at the scene were the Arizona Department of Agriculture, Rural Metro Fire Central Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service, veterinarians and bystanders.

The grating where Neiman's legs were stuck was a cattle guard, meant to keep cattle out of certain areas.

The horse management group said that it had been working with Maricopa County Department of Transportation and the Arizona Department of Agriculture to install deterrents to the cattle guards to keep this sort of thing from happening. The group hopes that what happened to Neiman will serve as an example to help to speed up the process.