New Hampshire Horse Rescued From Trough

Subtitle: “Another way horses try to kill themselves daily.”

Goshen NH Fire Department. Used with permission.

The Goshen Fire Rescue Department of Goshen, New Hampshire responded Sunday, January 18 at 8:27 AM to a call regarding a horse who was stuck in a concrete feeding trough. A press release on the Newport Fire-EMS Facebook page stated “the home owner did not know how long the horse had been in the roughly 30 inch wide x 2 foot deep x 10 foot long cement trough.”

Goshen NH Fire Department. Used with permission.

Amazingly, the horse was removed from the trough and sustained only minor injuries. The rescue team included not only members of the Goshen department but “special requests from Goshen Fire Chief Dan Peterson for extra man power and equipment from Newport and Lempster Fire Departments as well as a loader from Goshen Highway Department and a boom wrecker from Stones Auto Body of Newport if needed for lifting.” A veterinarian was also called to the scene to be on hand to evaluate and treat the horse’s injuries.

Goshen NH Fire Department. Used with permission.

All in all, 20 personnel from the combined rescue teams working together (without the use of either the loader or the boom truck) rescued the horse by hand: “[personnel] placed lifting straps under the horse prior to a unified lifting procedure from the head to tail section of the horse resulting in a positive extrication of the horse in less than 35 minutes from the original call for service.” Nice work, team. Horses, if you’ve got to wedge yourself into concrete feeding troughs, Goshen, New Hampshire looks like it’s pretty well prepared to get you on your feet again.

Goshen NH Fire Department. Used with permission.

Goshen fire chief Dan Peterson commented in an email interview that the rescue “was all about the team work. It is a very good mutual aid fire team we have here. Sometimes a call can be bad with a bad outcome, and sometimes everything falls into place and works out very well. This may not have been a perfect text book rescue, but we had a great result for the horse and horse’s owner.” Chief Peterson had nothing but compliments for veterinarian Dr. Mills of the Claremont Animal Hospital, pictured here with the lucky horse.

Goshen NH Fire Department. Used with permission.

The horse’s owner posted her thanks via the Newport Fire-EMS Facebook page, promising that she would be removing the concrete trough if necessary and at least placing a cover over the top in the meantime to prevent this freak accident from occurring again.

Special thanks to Goshen volunteer fire chief Dan Peterson for the use of photos and comments!

Go riding!