A Marengo horse received a warm homecoming Wednesday afternoon from his stay in an equine hospital after he was stranded in a creek, resulting in a daylong, 45-person rescue mission.
Troy — who is a Pony of the Americas, according to his owners, the Beaulieu family — pranced around his yard upon exiting the hospital trailer, receiving pets and apples. Inside the stables, the family’s other two horses greeted Troy with affectionate sniffs, snuggles and neighs.
Nearly two dozen help rescue horse stranded in flooded Marengo creek
They hadn’t seen Troy since he went missing sometime on Friday, according to Trent Hinkle, who has looked after the horses as the barnhand for five years. Hinkle said he realized Troy was gone at about 7 p.m. Friday night but couldn’t find him in the dark. The horses often graze and roam the tens of acres of land the Beaulieus own, but usually, they come back to the stables, Hinkle explained.
Hinkle said he found Troy around 7 a.m. Saturday stranded in a creek. He believes Troy got swept about a half mile from the family’s house on Anthony Road by the fast current and rising water levels from the rains.
“He is definitely a survivor,” Hinkle said.
Shortly after finding Troy, Hinkle called the Marengo Fire Protection District to the scene. It was difficult to free Troy — who stood about 600 feet from shore in three or four feet of 43-degree waters — because the river had flooded, putting 15-feet deep waters between the peninsula where Troy stood and his rescuers, Fire Chief John Kimmel said.
The Wisconsin Large Animal Emergency Response team and a special response team of firefighters trained in swift water rescues joined the efforts throughout the day. So did equine veterinarian Nicky Wessel, who brought Troy hay, medicine and hot water all day via boat dressed in a special suit to prevent hypothermia.
Wessel said Troy’s body temperature dropped to around 97 degrees while he was in the water. Normal temperatures for horses are around 100 or 101 degrees, Wessel added.
Rescuers were finally able to free Troy Saturday evening by guiding him with harnesses and attaching him to a boat, according to the fire district.
Ashley Beaulieu, 36, described the emotional day she endured watching her horse struggle. She said she worried Troy wouldn’t make it out alive.
“You could tell he was looking at us, wondering why we weren’t out there helping him,” Beaulieu said. “I didn’t want him to think we were just watching him. That part was really hard.”
After Troy was on land, veterinarians put a tube down his throat so that they could dump warm water into his stomach to hydrate and warm him. Beaulieu said she was moved by how her neighbors ran from their homes with buckets of water.
Rescuers carried Troy on a large mat to a trailer, which transported him to Kendall Road Equine Hospital. Wessel said she was concerned by Troy’s low body temperature but was encouraged that his lungs sounded clear of water.
“When we were at the hospital and he stood up, that meant the world to me,” Wessel said. “I knew as soon as he was actually able to stand up, he’d be fine.”
Wessel said Wednesday that Troy’s bloodwork looks great and that he’s in good shape.
With Troy at home and healthy, Beaulieu joked that Troy pulled Saturday’s stunt on purpose. She described him as the most “mischievous” and “funny” of the three horses.
“Now that he’s back, he’s like, ‘Look at me! Did everybody see?’” she asked.
The whole Beaulieu family is glad to have their horse of nearly 20 years back home. Robert Beaulieu, Ashley’s father and a retired lawyer, said he’s looking forward to seeing his “beautiful animals” run together again.
“You get attached, you know?” he said.
