BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Bethlehem mounted police officers got special instructions from the Lehigh Valley County Animal Response Team (CART) this week on how to rescue their horses, should anything go wrong.
At their barn on Langhorne Avenue in Bethlehem, four officers and a group of about 15 volunteers gathered. They stood around a plastic, bolted together brown horse named "Frankie" who had a rope for a tail, which one of the officers joked looked a lot more nicely braided and clean than the real thing.
- CART led a training session for Bethlehem’s mounted police division on Wednesday
- It used a fake plastic horse, to teach officers how to rescue their police horses if they ever have an emergency
- The entire process of rescuing a stuck horse usually takes about 15 minutes, according to CART
- Frankie the horse model is sometimes replaced by barrels tied together if Frankie is otherwise occupied
The officers were there to learn how to rescue their horses should they get stuck on their side or collapse from a medical emergency.
"There are many reasons why we would need assistance from Lehigh Valley CART," Diane Mack said. She is president of Friends of the Bethlehem Mounted Police. "Or have to take measures here at the stables to raise a horse from the ground."
According to Officer Albert Strydesky who rides the horses, it's not always clear what to do when the situation comes up.
"Here at the stables, we've encountered already where a horse has fallen on the fence and couldn't get up," Strydesky said. "Several law officers looked at each other and say, 'well, maybe he'll get up on his own,' but what if he doesn't?"
'Quick and dirty'
The actual process of getting a downed horse up and running can take around 15 minutes from start to finish, Darrell Singles, Operation and Logistics officer for the Lehigh Valley CART, said.
Singles showed the officers it usually involves tucking a harness, or sled-type object under the horse, then lifting or dragging him a few feet from where he's stuck.
Singles said sometimes the hardest part is getting the equipment under a living, sometimes kicking, horse. To remedy this, he suggested using a long whip—not to whip the animal, but as a rod to reach under the horse's belly or shoulders with the necessary gear.
CART also recommends pulling the horse's tail—in a strategic way.
"Even though they've got that nice natural depression between their hips and shoulders, it usually kind of still gets stuck a little bit," Singles said, pointing to “Frankie’s” rope tail. "But the horse comes with a natural handle."
Singles said he often asks for express permission from the horse's owner before pulling on a tail and makes sure to do it in a lengthwise, horizontal motion, as opposed to an "up" motion, opposite the horse's feet.
"Because you can pull their tail off. Google it."Darrell Singles, Operation and Logistics officer for the Lehigh Valley County Animal Response Team.
Troubleshooting before a lift
According to Singles, sometimes horses are not actually stuck. They can be tired, hungry, or experiencing abdominal pain known as "colic" in horse-riding circles. In this case, CART recommended troubleshooting before physically lifting the horse.
"Find out if there's a horse maybe he doesn't like, a dog he doesn't like, maybe a person he doesn't like," Singles said. "We've had that a couple times, where a cow was down, Trish [his colleague] was dealing with a cow for a couple hours, and there was a dog he didn't get along with, Skye, and I said 'bring me Skye.'"
Singles said the reverse can be true: getting a dog, horse, or person the horse really likes, and bringing them to try to pep up the collapsed horse.
“You know, maybe Frankie really likes Charlie,” Singles said. “And Charlie’s out on the pasture. Well, somebody go get Charlie and bring him in and see if it’s enough to get Frankie up.”
“Frankie”
“Frankie” the artificial horse was provided by Penn State University, where Singles also teaches an animal rescue course.
“We’re not going to really use a real horse,” he said. “Mainly for the safety of the animal, and the people doing the training.”
He added that sometimes, Frankie is unavailable due to other commitments, and in that case, they make a substitute out of 55-gallon drums. This, he said, they jokingly call the Frankenstein horse.
