LOCKWOOD — The Lockwood Fire Department helped with a unique horse rescue on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Cash, a 21-year-old thoroughbred show horse, is doing fine after getting stuck in an egress window well.
Lockwood firefighters, Yellowstone County Sheriff’s deputies, and a veterinarian from Montana Equine all helped with the rescue.
The ordeal started at 2:40 p.m. and Cash was freed with just minor injuries about an hour and a half later.
“It was very relieving,” said Carrie McElvain about her horse. “We definitely had the vet check him over once he was out and we only noticed three small cuts. So we were very lucky.”
McElvain says her son Walker was washing Cash when the retired show horse backed up into the window well.
She called a veterinarian and then the Lockwood Fire Department for help.
“Animals are like humans,” said Shady Erhorn, a Lockwood firefighter and paramedic. “They have different personalities. This gelding was awesome. I think the owners take awesome care of him and probably desensitize him to some of these things.”
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Erhorn said firefighters, deputies, and the vet thought hoisting the 1,330-pound, 16.2-hand tall horse might cause more harm.
Cash was given a mild sedative to make sure he stayed calm.
“Once we kind of got those stones to a good platform with the mud there that was safe, we just put a tow strap almost around his hind end and I was kind of pulling one side just slowly to guide him,” Erhorn said. “We wanted to move with him.”
Later in the afternoon, Cash was back to normal, walking around with his friend Dan, after a memorable rescue for the first responders.
“I enjoyed spending time with the horse,” Erhorn said. “I think everybody liked that call. And we're just glad that everybody's safe. That's the end goal.”
“He's pretty special,” McElvain said about Cash. “We love him.”
