By Andy Grimm
Post Tribune

CROWN POINT, Indiana — Dolly the draft horse is warming up in a heated northwest Indiana stable after spending as long as two hours treading water in an icy pond Thursday.

The 2,000-pound horse plunged through 4- to 6-inch-thick ice near Hebron, Ind., and may have been there for more than an hour before owner Patricia Hamilton heard whinnying around 8 a.m.

Rescue crews from fire departments in Lakes of the Four Seasons, Crown Point and Portage arrived to find Dolly all but exhausted as she tried to keep her head above water.

Dolly "was sort of floating, laying on her side with her head on the ice, maybe 100 feet from the edge," Lakes of the Four Seasons Fire Chief Kevin Radtke said.

Firefighters first attempted to pull Dolly out with a harness strapped around her head, but they quickly realized they couldn't get enough men or heavy equipment onto the ice. With Dolly fading fast, firefighters began cutting into the ice to carve a 50-foot-long channel toward shallower water.

Horse trainer Dave Dewell said Dolly remained calm even as the chain saws cut ice only inches from her. Dewell joined rescue crews on the ice to help keep the horse calm.

"She never seemed like she wanted to give up," Dewell said. "She wanted to keep fighting."

When the channel through the ice reached a few feet from shore, Dolly was able to touch bottom and walk, though shivering violently, out of the pond to the Hamiltons, who waited with blankets. Dewell kept the horse walking, eventually taking her indoors to warm up.

Dolly's core temperature, usually a little over 100 degrees, had dropped to 98, and her veterinarian initially worried that frostbite might claim her ears.

Radtke said his firefighters have rescued people, deer and dogs from holes in the ice, but never a creature as large as Dolly.

"People might ask why we would rescue an animal, but it's more about the people," Radtke said. "They're concerned about the animals, so if we don't help, they'll try it, and then you've got a person falling through the ice."

Dolly seemed back to her old self Thursday afternoon, but the section of the pasture where the pond is located will be closed off until it thaws, Hamilton said.

"It was very difficult to watch," Hamilton said. "I commend the firefighters. They did a great job . . . but we're not up for this again."

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