Horse rescued from icy pond

LOVELAND, Colo. — During the winter, firefighters often rescue people and dogs from frozen ponds, but earlier this week in Loveland, it was a horse that needed to be saved.

"There's been a number of large animal rescues over the years since we've started doing this," Capt. Robert Carmosino told KCNC.

Large animal rescue is a pretty unique field, but Loveland Fire-Rescue trains for it annually. "We have a sled that we can put the horse on or, again, it's any type of large animal. It is very handy being up here obviously with the rural community we have," said Carmosino.  They also have a special suit that rescuers wear. It's keeps them warm and buoyant.

The animal in trouble this time was a 25-year-old painted horse named Patches. She wandered from home, lost her footing on an icy pond and fell over. She couldn't stand and rescuers couldn't get the sled under her, so they improvised.

They wrapped a fire hose around her and used that to drag her to shore. Patches was safely pulled to shore and eventually was able to stand and move on her own. Her owner praises the rescuers and vet on scene.

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Patches is sore but OK, all thanks to good training and quick thinking.

"I think that's what this job is all about. We don't have the answer to everything, but we train for what we do know and when the 'what ifs' happen, which is what we had, you're able to adapt and improvise on that," said Carmosino.

CNN/KCNC