Patterson Fire Department Assists in La Grange Horse Rescue

It was quite the stormy and rainy weekend here in the Hudson Valley. Storms and weather like this in reality are not uncommon for this time of the year in the Hudson Valley. We are all to familiar with the incredibly humid Summer's that inevitably lead to heavy rain and some powerful thunderstorms.

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With that being said, the amount of wet weather recently has made for some hazardous conditions in areas of the Hudson Valley. We've had everything from fallen trees to downed power lines, some slippery roads, and as evidenced by this past weekend a case of a horse that fell and could not get up.

Stuck in the Mud in La Grange

According to the Patterson Fire Department Facebook page early this past Saturday morning a call went out to local emergency services for a rather in unusual call. Just before 9am, personnel from the La Grange Fire Department reported to Budd Lane in La Grange to rescue a horse that had fallen but was unable to get up due to the tremendous amount of mud where it had fallen. Personnel from the Patterson Fire Department also arrived on the scene to assist in the rescue.

When rescuers investigated the scene, they found the 20-year-old horse named Ronan had fallen not only into the mud but he was also stuck in a ditch which further complicated the situation. Between the ditch and the mud, it's not hard to see why the horse was unable to get up under its own power.

Together the heavy-duty rescue team went to work in their attempt to free the fallen Ronan. A Patterson firefighter by the name of Andrew Rossi, who had participated in numerous previous horse rescues was quoted saying...

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Time was of the essence, due to amount of time the horse was down.

The Rescue of Ronan

After analyzing the situation, the rescue team of Patterson and La Grange firefighters devised and executed their rescue plan. First, with help from Dr. Gabriel Cook from New England Equine Practice, Ronan was sedated to make sure rescuers could properly attend to him. Afterward, rescuers attached appropriate safety straps to Ronan and began to pull all 2,200 pounds of him from the ditch and the mud.

From there the rescue went seamlessly and Ronan was freed. Once the sedatives wore off, the massive Ronan was back up on all fours and aside from being a bit dirty appeared to be in good health following the ordeal. One of the firefighters who participated in the rescue, identified as Dan McLaughlin was quoted saying...

We’re glad Ronan wasn’t stuck in deep mud, just on top of the mud

In total, this makes it five horse rescues that the Patterson Fire Department has responded to just this year.