Extricating Entrapped Horses, Lifting a Bogged Horse: Large Animal Evac and Technical Rescue Exercises

Least Resistance Training Concepts
(LRTC)
Volunteers Training for Emergencies

Large Animal Evac and Technical Rescue Exercises

12. Lifting a Bogged Horse

This feature is a continuation of the discussion on procedures for Extricating a Bogged Horse.

Before any large animal is lifted from a bog or collapse, all of the rigging needs to be double checked, a determination made that the adjacent soil will support the equipment being used to lift the horse, and provisions must be made to relieve the suction that will be created as the animal is being lifted.
The following sequence of actions are recommended for most situations.
1. Attach the sling to the lifting apparatus and secure the straps to the sling bar.
Make all the necessary connections, then check each and every connection.

2. Insert the jetting wands by each leg.
The wands that we built have depth indicators so that rescuers can determine the depth of the wand tips when they are being used.
Water flow to the wands can be controlled at the wands themselves or at the manifold. The desired tactic is to apply water simultaneously to all four wands as the horse is being lifted. However a wand may have to be turned on in order to plunge safely alongside the horse's leg. A rescuer should operate the manifold, allowing the person inserting the wands to control pressure during the insertion process, but stop the flow at the manifold once the wand is properly inserted. Later the manifold operator can charge all four wands simultaneously when the lifting operation starts.

View of the manifold that supplies each wand's hose.

3. Coordinate the lifting operation.
When it comes time to lift the animal, the equipment operator should only take direction from the person in charge of rescue operations. However that does not mean that the equipment operator should ignore anyone who notices a safety issue. However the upward progress of the lift must be directed from the "Operations Chief" who is next to the horse.

If a wand hose or other object gets snagged on the horse, remove the object with a pole hook. Do not approach the horse as even sedated the horse can swing its head around or kick! Such behavior is particularly likely if the horse is disoriented and feels objects touching its body.

Be sure to move the horse a sufficient distance away so that it does not fall back into the bog or trench when attempting to rise or if disoriented once on its feet.
If the horse is still unable to stand, disconnect the horse from the lifting apparatus by working alongside the horse's back. Do not approach the horse in the vicinity of its legs and hooves! Horses can and will experience spasmodic movements of their legs that at times can be quite powerful and can break human bones!