A California horse got a taste of pegasus life during a river rescue that required an airlift.
According to KCAL, the horse got stuck in the Santa Ana River Saturday night and took nearly 24 hours and the help of several people to escape.
On Sunday, the CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department posted on Facebook that it had performed a water rescue to save the horse.
“Firefighters responded to a horse in the river. Fire resources and @RSO are searching for a possible rider. A Riverside County Sheriff’s Office helicopter is en route to assist in the search and the City of Norco – Government Animal Rescue Team (NART) is en route to assist with saving horses,” the agency wrote on social networks.
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Once the horse — named Conquistador, according to UPI — emerged from the water, it was too tired to move from hours of fighting for its life against the river, prompting rescuers to come up with a new solution: a helicopter ride.
KCAL reported that rescuers did not reach the horse until Sunday afternoon because no one was sure where the animal was until Sunday morning. A horse ended up stuck in a river after taking a fright while riding with its owner on Saturday night. The rider lost control of the Conquistador, who ran off into the night without an owner.
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The horse’s family and the community worked together to find the horse, eventually locating the animal in the river on Sunday morning.
After Conquistador returned to land after the water rescue, firefighters called in the assistance of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office (RSO) to bring the horse home. The sheriff’s office dispatched a helicopter to the rescue site to airlift the animal to safety.
The Riverside, California Sheriff’s Office is transporting the horse by helicopter.
KCAL News/Youtube
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“19:00—with the help of our partners in @RSOthe horse was lifted from the river bed by helicopter,” CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department wrote on X with a photo of a Conquistador hanging from a helicopter flying through the sky.
An exhausted horse rests and is expected to fully recover from its ordeal.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education