Watch Wild Salt River Horses Rescued By Mesa Firefighters (VIDEO)

MESA, AZ – It was a life and death moment on the canal of the Salt River Project on Sunday and it ended with two wild horses being saved from drowning. They were saved thanks to heroic work by Mesa firefighters working with the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.

While horses are generally good swimmers, the two – an older horse and a younger horse – got trapped in water that was 11-feet deep.

The horses were exhausted and had been in danger of drowning, according to the management group.

It took a combined effort of workers from the group and firefighters from Station 206 to pull the horses by hand up the canal's 15-feet high cement walls to safety. (Get Phoenix Patch's real-time news alerts and free morning news letters. Like us on Facebook. Also, download the free Patch iPhone app or free Patch Android app.)

The horses, which are recovering at a facility run by Salt River Wild Horse Management, were originally thought to be mother and daughter from the Salt River wild horse group but later identified as sisters from the band that can usually be found at the Granite Reef recreation site.

The mistaken identity resulted from the older horse refusing to leave the younger one's side.

"Well, at first we attempted to lead the horse to the ramp because the mom knew how to get out at the ramp," the president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group told AZFamily.com, which caught the rescue on video. "But the baby kept floating away from her and then she ran right back after the baby.

"So we were hoping they'd be able to get out of the ramp but they floated past it and at that point, we actually had to rescue them."

YOU CAN WATCH VIDEO OF THE RESCUE HERE

Photo via Mesa Fire and Medical Department.