Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994                   TAG: 9406090039
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

WALKING HORSE GETS INTO HARNESS, MAKES UNUSUAL EQUINE RESCUE

It all started about 8 p.m. Sunday. Becky Hill, owner of the farm, was watering her vegetable garden. Over in the pasture, It's Showtime started whinnying and neighing loudly.

Hill didn't pay much attention at first, but when the horse kept on, she knew something was up. She alerted her husband, Tommy, and Dave Wright to the horse's behavior.

Wright went over to check it out, and It's Showtime nudged him on the leg and started trotting off as if to say, ``Follow me!''

Hill and Wright followed It's Showtime across the pasture to a muddy creek where Hal Mack, a 27-year-old Tennessee walking horse, was nearly submerged.

``He had only a little bit of his head out of the mud,'' Wright said. ``He was trying to keep his nostrils out of it.''

Seeing that help was near, Hal Mack lunged forward and managed to get part way out of the mud, but his back end and legs were still stuck.

Hill went to get a tractor to pull the horse out and told his wife what was happening. She called Hal Mack's owner, Buddy Dixon, and told him to come to the farm.

On the way back to the creek, the tractor got stuck in the mud. Meanwhile, Hal Mack was losing his color and going into shock.

Only It's Showtime could save Hal Mack.

The Hills, Wright and Dixon made a harness out of thin, nylon rope and padded it with T-shirts so it wouldn't cut It's Showtime's chest. The 6-year-old animal then pulled Hal Mack to safety.