Photos: Horse Trapped in 6 Feet of Muck Rescued

LAKELAND, FL — Two legs or four doesn’t seem to make a difference to Polk County deputies when there’s trouble afoot. Case in point, the agency received a call over the weekend about a horse that was trapped in a pond near Lakeland’s Sleepy Hill Road.

It seems a 20-year-old Quarter horse mare had managed to get herself good and stuck in about 6 feet of water. “The surrounding area of the pond had decomposing wood mulch and muck, making it difficult for the horse to find solid ground,” the agency explained in a media release.

Hoping to help the poor critter, deputies from the county’s agriculture unit responded to the Dec. 3 call. They had the Florida Department of Agriculture’s State Agriculture Rescue Team’s equipment trailer in tow.

That turned out to be a good thing, the sheriff’s office said.

“Only the head and a small portion of the horse’s back were visible; the rest of the horse's body was submerged,” the agency wrote. Using an A-Frame rescue system provided by the state, deputies along with members of Polk County Fire Rescue Squad 591 and Fire Engine 111’s crew, began using the rope-and-pulley system to pull the mare out of the muck. Volunteer members of Polk’s mounted search and rescue team and two local veterinarians also came out to help.

The horse, which had been stuck for more than two hours, was able to stand after her ordeal, the sheriff’s office said. She was dried off and cleaned up before being checked out by one of the vets. At last report, she was on the mend.

The large animal technical rescue trailer used in the rescue belongs to the state’s response team. The trailer is housed in Polk County, but is made available to agencies in the area, including those in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties, 365 days a year.

Polk County deputies aren’t the only ones who have gone above and beyond in recent weeks to protect and serve more than people. Clearwater Police recently pitched in to save a bald eagle who was hit by a vehicle on Countryside Boulevard. The eagle was released back into the wild in late November after undergoing surgery at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

Photos courtesy of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office