Twice during the holidays I’ve read about dramatic rescues of horses.

The first occurred in England, where an 8-year old welsh-bred blue roan mare named  Steffie,  fell down a well. She was rescued three days after she disappeared and despite falling 10 feet and going without food or water during that time, she appears to have made a full recovery. Here’s a photo of her being hoisted out by three firefighter crews, RSPCA officers, a vet and a search and rescue team.

Meanwhile, in British Columbia, rescue workers spent a week successfully retrieving two horses that had been left behind by hunters. (Actually, something I’ve read since first posting is that a lawyer from Alberta was making a pack trip through the area in the summer, for whatever reason decided it wasn’t going well and left the horses while getting himself out. It is rumored that there were 3 but one died). The horses were found on December 15th by two young men looking for snowmobiles that had been abandoned by  tourists. They found the horses stuck in six feet of snow with no shelter. While they considered shooting the horses at first, thinking it the most humane thing to do, they decided the horses still had too much spirit. Over the course of a week, nearly 50 people joined the rescue effort and dug a half-mile trail escape route through the snow by hand.

What a wonderful Christmas gift for these equines. Kudos for the volunteers who spent their holidays working on behalf of these lucky horses.