ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER DUBLIN
AN ABANDONED CISTERN almost spelled the end for a quarter horse from the Big M ranch. But, thanks to two men and a backhoe, the mare is back home with her colt.
A 7-year-old quarter horse was rescued Wednesday after she fell into an abandoned, snow-covered cistern nearly 30 feet deep.
It took about three hours for Stan Crigger, Pulaski County's emergency services coordinator, and Luther Buckner, a backhoe operator, to get the horse out. Crigger led her out of the hole about 11 a.m.
"They saw her one minute," said her owner, Richard Matson, who owns the Big M Ranch north of Dublin on Highland Road. "The next minute, she just vanished from the face of the Earth."
The horse and her 6-month-old colt had wandered off their grazing grounds.
The cistern had a box over it, but the snow had weakened it. The bay mare, who has no name, had stepped over the box with her front legs, but her hind legs went through it.
"And down she went, right to the bottom of it," Matson said. "It was right spectacular."
The cistern was 27 feet deep and 91/2 feet wide, Crigger said. He estimated that the horse had fallen 16 to 18 feet.
Crigger got permission from Matson's neighbor, on whose property the cistern is situated, to dig from the side down to where the horse was trapped.
"You could barely see the horse down there in the hole," said Doug Cullip, another neighbor who went to the scene. The mare was visible only with a flashlight, but could be heard groaning and wheezing in the darkness.
Buckner began digging at an angle, a little at a time. "The dirt was good and tight," he said. Otherwise, it would have fallen in on the horse and smothered her.
The hole contained old refrigerators and other junk, Buckner said, and he had to remove some of them to get to the mare.
The big, broken-off side of a metal kitchen implement was on top of the horse's head, pinning her down. "She kind of had her head bowed back under it," Buckner said. Once he lifted the object, her head came up.
Buckner managed not to touch the horse while maneuvering the backhoe's bucket.
"He just dug around her head and all, you know, and made some steps for her to come out," Matson said.
Crigger went down into the hole and put a halter on the horse. The mare took two steps, with Crigger pulling, then had to stop and rest, Buckner said. She followed Crigger halfway up before stopping to rest again.
Finally, Crigger got her all the way out of the hole and led her back to the field before letting her go. She had a slight cut around one eye and on one leg, but neither was serious, Buckner said. "When I left, she was picking hay."
"She's back with her colt and well and happy," Matson said Wednesday night.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB