Conquistador the horse getting airlifted to safety after his rescue from California’s Santa Ana River.Photo:KCAL News/Youtube
KCAL News/Youtube
A California horse got a taste of the pegasus life during a river rescue that required an airlift.
According toKCAL, a horse got stuck in the Santa Ana River on Saturday evening and needed close to 24 hours and the help of several humans to escape.
On Sunday, CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Departmentnoted on Facebookthat it performed a water rescue to save the horse.
“Firefighters responded to a horse in the river. Fire resources and @RSO are searching for a possible rider. ARiverside County Sheriff’s OfficeHelicopter is en route to assist with the search, and theCity of Norco - GovernmentAnimal Rescue Team (NART) is en route to assist with the horse’s rescue,” the agency wrote on social media.
After the horse — named Conquistador,according to UPI— got out of the water, he was too tired to move from the hours of fighting for his life against the river, forcing rescuers to devise a new solution: a helicopter ride.
KCAL reported that rescuers did not reach the horse until Sunday afternoon because no one was sure where the animal was until Sunday morning. The horse ended up stuck in the river after getting spooked while on a ride with its owner Saturday night. The horseback rider lost control of Conquistador, who ran off into the night without their owner.
The horse’s family and community banded together to find the horse, eventually locating the animal in the river on Sunday morning.
Once Conquistador was back on land following his water rescue, firefighters called in some help from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office (RSO) to get the horse home. The sheriff’s office sent a helicopter to the rescue site to airlift the animal to safety.
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The exhausted horse is resting and expected to fully recover from the ordeal.
source: people.com
