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They call him Frosty now.
A wandering horse that fell through the ice of a frozen creek near the resort village of Cochin, Sask., is now safe and in recovery.
When a concerned resident first reported the trapped animal to the village around 9:20 a.m. on Friday, Cochin’s mayor, Mark Pattinson, took off to find it with his friend Ed Scott.
They discovered the struggling animal in about four feet of freezing water and ice, Pattinson said.
Attempts to pull him out with just a rope and manpower, with some help from other community members, were not successful.
By the time Pattinson and Scott found a Jeep equipped with a winch, more locals were stopped at the scene, along with a pair of RCMP officers.
“Ed got as close as he could, which was probably 100 or 150 feet away from the horse, through the bulrushes and up through a little strip of bush,” Pattinson said.
Three people attempted to pull the horse from the water before a Jeep and some rope later came to the final rescue. From there, the animal was taken to the village shop to warm up with some hay and water.
“We used strong rope all the way to his Jeep, hooked [the horse] to the winch and got him winched out of the hole.”
They had the horse out of the ice less than 30 minutes after they found him, but he was in poor condition. Pattinson said it was hard to tell how long he’d been trapped there, but the ice that had formed on his body indicated multiple hours had passed.
“He was exhausted of course, and covered in ice, and he was having a very tough time getting to his feet. We kind of rocked him back and forth and got his feet splayed out in front of him,” Pattinson said.
“We were very close to getting the RCMP officer to take his life, but we gave it a few more seconds and he scrambled himself to his feet and just started walking.”
They draped a big blanket over him and led him to the village shop to get warmed up. From there, Pattinson contacted people he knows who have horses, and everyone was quick to offer some assistance.
As it turned out, the horse no longer really belongs to anyone.
“His owner passed away and nobody really stepped up to take care of him, so he was kind of just cruising around,” Pattinson said.
“We have a few of them here that are cruising around, and unfortunately, he fell through the ice.”
Despite his sad tale, people gathered around the lonely horse to help, and gave him his new nickname.
“People came with bales and feed and bandages and they fixed him up and took his temperature,” Pattinson said.
“The amount of support, even financially, people calling saying, ‘Hey, we’ll pay the vet bill there.’ It was pretty overwhelming, actually.”
Local farmers brought a horse trailer and drove Frosty to the Lakeland veterinary clinic in North Battleford, where he is being treated.
