Mission Fire Rescue Service was called out on Monday to help with a horse in distress.
Alicia Harper, owner of Hylee Training, a horse riding school in Mission, called for help when she discovered Finn, her 30-year-old Arabian horse, stuck in its stall.
The horse had laid down and could not get back up again.
“They roll over and then get their legs too far up the wall,” she explained.
Finn is an older horse, used to teach younger kids how to ride.
While Harper and her staff managed to get Finn out of his stall, they could not get the horse to stand up.
“When they’re older, they don’t have enough power in their hind end sometimes.”
That’s when she called in the fire department.
“In total I think there were about 12 guys there to start with and we still couldn’t get him up,” said Harper.
Eventually she had to contact the Horse Council of BC, located in Aldergrove, to send over a special sling to try and get the horse upright.
While the members of Mission Fire Rescue had to leave the scene, two firemen decided to come back to the location, on their own time, to assist in the rescue .
Eventually, with the help of a veterinarian, the firefighters and staff, they managed to attach the sling and lift Finn back up.
“He’s actually fine. As soon as he was standing, it took a couple of minutes for his muscles to warm back up and now he’s fine,” said Harper.
Finn is considered to be a senior citizen in horse years. Normally horses live to about 30 years, but Arabians are known to live a little longer according to Harper.
Finn should be back helping kids learn to ride in no time.