George, a 15-year-old rescue himself, was found by his owner Jeff Dulong at around 7 a.m. on Sunday lying in the mud of his outdoor arena in the 21300 block of 128 Avenue. (Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS)

A horse found lying in a muddy field Sunday morning had to be rescued by the Maple Ridge fire department.

George, a 15-year-old rescue himself, was found by Jeff Dulong at around 7 a.m. lying in the mud of his outdoor arena in the 21300 block of 128 Avenue.

“I came out and he was lying down and wouldn’t get up,” explained Dulong.

“All the rain we’ve had this arena is a bit mucky and he just couldn’t get his footing and he just got too tired,” he said.

After making numerous attempt to get George up, Dulong called veterinarian Stefanie Jeanneret from Golden Ears Equine Services, who also made several attempts to get the horse up before calling the fire department.

Two crews were called to the scene at around 9 a.m. and they immediately assembled a rope system for a horizontal rescue.

They dragged the horse across the mud to where the gate was open. Once there they attempted putting the horse on a tarp, but ended up pivoting the horse to position it to go through the gate and onto a grassy path, where there was enough room to roll the horse onto its stomach and get it onto its feet.

“We had to drag the horse a fair ways and then set up a system to lift the horse as it was unable to stand on its own legs for the interim,” explained deputy chief Michael Van Dop with the Maple Ridge fire department.

“These horse situations are something that we frequent on a fairly regular basis with the Maple Ridge fire department. We do about 12 of 15 of these annually,” he said.

“This is a great example of a horse that will survive and will be much better off as a result of being rescued,” said Van Dop.



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The Maple Ridge fire department were called to the scene of a horse needing a horizontal rescue at around 9 a.m. on Sunday at a farm in the 21300 block of 128 Avenue. (Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS)

Veterinarian Stefanie Jeanneret from Golden Ears Equine Services gives George some swats to the face to force him to stand up. “It looks violent but the idea is to try to get him annoyed, to get him frustrated and hopefully make him decide to get up and out of the pressure,” said Jeanneret. (Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS)

George attempts to get up but won’t use his back legs after being stuck in the mud of his arena for an unknown period of time. Veterinarian Stefanie Jeanneret from Golden Ears Equine Services was worried that if George did not get up onto his legs that she would have to put him down. (Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS)