Horse SAR at PORE
Rick Smith
https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/horse-point-reyes-ravine-rescue-19545838.php
SFGate (San Francisco, CA)
Friday, June 28, 2024
'The ground just gave away': Horse stuck in Point Reyes ravine requires 7-hour rescue
By Stephen Council, Tech Reporter
A horse that was trapped in a steep ravine prompted an hourslong rescue saga on Tuesday in Point Reyes National Seashore. The Arabian gelding is expected to make a full recovery.
According to a Thursday press release from the National Park Service, the 20-year-old horse fell in a “densely vegetated ravine” near the National Seashore’s Coast Trail. A stream of at least 15 first responders arrived, including Park Service rangers, Bolinas firefighters and personnel from the Marin County Sheriff’s Office’s search and rescue unit and the Marin Humane shelter, according to the release; the seven-hour rescue saw the group navigate “challenging topography, poor footing, and the large animal in distress.”
The horse’s rider, the Park Service wrote, was uninjured. Riding is permitted on the Coast Trail.
Limited radio connection and no cell service, plus the site’s remote location, made the rescue even more difficult, according to a Facebook post by Marin County Search and Rescue. It said the responders couldn’t find a way to help the horse back to its feet, so they cut a path with saws and then used a “technical rope system” of straps, sleds, cargo nets and hooks to pull the horse 30 feet up the ravine to the trail.
Video from the scene, posted by veterinarian Teresa Crocker, shows more than a dozen people heaving at ropes, attempting not to slip down the slope. Full-grown Arabian horses typically weigh about 900 pounds.
Crocker treated the horse on the scene, according to the Park Service press release, and the horse was able to walk to the trailhead before being taken to an equine hospital.
On Friday, the veterinarian wrote in a Facebook post that doctors had given the horse IV fluids for two days and that he would need physical therapy and a fractured tooth extracted, but “should make a complete recovery.”
“This is an exceptional horse, caught in an unfortunate predicament, where the ground just gave away below him,” Crocker wrote.
Rick Smith
5264 N. Fort Yuma Trail
Tucson, AZ 85750