A group of citizens of Hemmingford made a heroic gesture, as they managed to extricate the horse which had fallen into the swimming pool of one of them.
The story begins early this morning, when two horses belonging to a resident of the municipality located in Montérégie ran away from their owner.
“My dog started yelping around 1:30 a.m.,” says François Pouliot. Immediately, the owner of Verger Hemmingford contacted 911 to ensure that the horses did not cause an accident on Route 202, located nearby.
Constant that citizens were taking care of the animals, he and his spouse went back to bed. It was around 8:30 a.m. that one of the couple’s employees called them to ask for their help, since the hair had fallen into a neighbour’s pool.
“We all got together to help the horses […] we are a small community that helps each other,” adds Mr. Pouliot.
rescue operation
Helped by volunteer firefighters and several neighbours, the group of citizens broke the ice, freed the horses and threw ropes to hold them out of the water.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY STÉPHANIE BEAUDOIN
The horse has just emerged from the pool it fell into in Hemmingford on Friday morning.
After several minutes of effort, one of the two hairs sank to the bottom of the hollow part of the pool.
“We supported him by the mane, we did everything to keep him out of the water, but he was too tired,” laments Mr. Pouliot.
Quickly, all energies were redirected to the mare who continued to fight for her life. They were finally able to get her out of the water after several failed attempts. After the mare calmed down, they kept her warm with blankets to raise her body heat, as she was suffering from hypothermia.
The Good Samaritan rejoices that he was able to save at least one of the two beasts. The mare that was rescued is doing well and would have been taken care of by a shelter, according to the information we were given.