Mark Slodkowski, a farmer in Poland, walked into his barn one day and was shocked to find his beloved horse Freedom in real trouble. Floorboards had given way under her weight and now she was stuck in a maintenance pit. She’d been there some time and was obviously exhausted and seriously stressed. It didn’t look like Freedom had any broken bones — very good news — but a traumatic situation like this still threatened her life.
Although frantic to save his horse, Mark was cool-headed enough to think of a good idea. He rushed over to another barn to get some hay. But this wasn’t for the horse to munch on. Instead, he started tossing it down into the pit, the idea being that the horse would stamp it down and gradually the layer of hay would get thick enough that Freedom would be able to climb out. It would be like letting water into a canal lock to lift a ship!
Unfortunately, the hay method didn’t work. Mark did his best to comfort the horse and also called the local fire department. The firemen were eager to help and showed up in force. Their idea was to run a couple of hoses under the horse’s body and then lift her out, although one of them warned, “If she doesn’t want to get out on her own, we definitely won’t be able to lift her out.” The dozen fire fighters gave it their all, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Just when everyone was afraid the horse might give up, she had a burst of energy. Now that Freedom was trying to climb out using her front legs, they were able to run a hose behind her and pull her forward. It worked! After 12 harrowing hours stuck in the pit, Freedom went for a trot, obviously glad to finally be able to stretch her legs.
Check out the video posted below and let us know what you thought of this amazing horse rescue in the comments at Facebook. Don’t forget to like and share!
