Animal was stuck between two trees
 
By Sandra Barbier
Times-Picayune

ST. ROSE, La. — The St. Rose Volunteer Fire Department is more accustomed to calls to rescue kittens in trees than it is to rescue a horse, but that's what they were asked to do recently when a 900-pound gelding got stuck on its back between two trees.

It took about 20 minutes for eight firefighters to lift and slide the horse, named Ghost, out from his foot-wide temporary trap, Fire Chief Larry Cochran said.

"His leg was wrapped around one tree and his head around the other ... we had to be careful not to break his back and neck," he said.

The rescue occurred about 2 p.m. Nov. 29 in a field near River Road.

Rescuers had to wait more than an hour until owner Amber Melancon quieted her horse enough for them to act. Melancon had to secure a sedative and inject it in the horse's neck, Cochran said.

Without it, the horse squirmed and kicked when the firefighters got near, he said.

"You could see the closeness of the owner and the horse. Every time she was near, he would calm down."

Cochran credited Melancon with saving the animal. "She's the hero. She knew who to call. She calmed him down," he said.

A friend discovered the horse in his predicament in a field at Lambert's, a commercial stable where Melancon keeps her three horses.

"He was whinnying for help," Melancon said. She thinks he may have been there about four hours before being found. She has a clear idea of what happened.

"It's a ditch he goes and plays in. When he was playing with another horse, he reared and the ground gave and he fell backward," getting stuck between the trees, she said.

Ghost, like Melancon, is 21 years old. She has owned him 12 years. "That was my first horse. That's my baby," she said.

Although Cochran said at times she was upset and tearful, Melancon said she was not scared for her horse's fate.

Melancon's father, Melvin Melancon, is a firefighter with the department, although he was not working that day.

"I just know my horse and I knew all the people" helping him, she said. "I trusted them."

Cochran and firefighters Giovanni Bivona and Stephen Banegas, lieutenants Steven Ledet and Johnny Bourgeois, captains Earl Rhodes and Tony LeBouef Jr., and chiefs Larry Ural and David "Chip" Hanemann participated in the rescue.

Ghost did suffer a mild case of colic after the episode. Colic can cause a horse's intestines to twist and can be fatal, Melancon said.

But Melancon said since the colic was mild and was caught early, she was able to help him to recover by walking him for about an hour and a half and allowing him to eat grass.

"Ghost has been in trouble all the time. He's very nosy. He's got that personality. He's very curious and he's not afraid of anything," Melancon said.

Like a cat, he may also have nine lives.

"I have a horse that is 34" years old, Melancon said. "Ghost is going to be around for a long time."

Copyright 2007 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company