It was just another quiet Saturday night at Free Horse Farm in Wisconsin…until the phone rang and veterinarian Kevin Nelson answered it. But it wasn’t a colic this time. A confused 911 dispatcher called the young family out into the darkest Saturday night a horseperson can imagine.
The Jurga Report has posted a file for you to download; this pdf file is a first-hand account of the trailer wreck rescue effort in Wadsworth, Illinois on October 27. A tractor-trailer rig ran a stop light and hit a truck; the double-decker trailer crashed to its side. Trapped inside were 59 draft horses on their way from an auction to whatever fate awaited them. Fate, as they say, intervened.
Event rider Deanna Hertrich and Dr. Kevin Nelson were two of the first people to arrive at the scene. Deanna was moved to put pen to paper immediately afterwards and recorded her experience. She was kind enough to share it with me, and allow me to pass it on to you.
What if this accident happened in your town? On your road? What if your own trailer flipped in a traffic accident, ramp side down? Does your town fire/rescue crew know how to handle horses? Would the horsepeople in your community turn out at night to help horses owned by strangers, horses covered with manure and potentially dangerous from stress and panic and pain?
I hope the horsepeople in Wadsworth, Illinois receive some recognition for their efforts and their compassion on that Saturday night. If there is an “up” side to this story it is how fortunate for those horses that the wreck happened in that town.
Please click on the file name below to download Deanna’s first-person story and try to imagine where you would fit into an emergency involving horses in your community. Learn what to do. Learn how to do it. And do all you can to insure that your horses are safe, on the road and at home.
