Horse falls through barn floor and dangles there until help arrives, MA rescuers say
A specialized team was called to rescue a horse that fell through the floor of his stall, leaving him suspended between two levels of the barn, Massachusetts rescuers said.
Valcour, an 8-year-old Lipizzaner gelding, “was standing comfortably in his stall the morning of June 3 at his home in Ipswich when the floor below him shattered,” according to a news release from the Massachusetts Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals.
His back legs fell through, leaving him partially stuck in the broken floorboards, officials said.
Rescuers said the wooden floor may have rotted, causing it to give way.
It took the collaborative efforts of the Ipswich Fire Department, Northeast Massachusetts Technical Rescue Team and the MSCPA Large Animal Rescue Team four hours and specialized large animal emergency rescue equipment to free Valcour, officials said.
“Valcour is expected to make a full recovery and his owners say he’s already walking around normally today!” MSCPA-Angell said in a June 4 Facebook post.
“This is also a good example of why it’s important that everyone with pets—including horses—knows what to do when emergencies happen,” said rescuer Kaycie McCarthy, an equine and farm animal outreach and rescue manager at Nevins Farm.
Ipswich is about a 30-mile drive northeast from Boston.
This story was originally published June 6, 2024 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Horse falls through barn floor and dangles there until help arrives, MA rescuers say."
