'He was going to drown': Northern Kentucky horse stuck in creek for hours gets rescued

A force of first responder agencies were involved in the rescue of a horse that found itself in a sticky situation in a Northern Kentucky pond Friday.

A post from the Campbell County Kentucky Emergency Management Agency said the agencies, which included Campbell County Fire District 1, Campbell County Fire and Rescue, Campbell County Office of Emergency Management, Point Pleasant Fire in Boone County and Union Fire in Boone County, worked for more than two hours to free the horse trapped in a pond near Owl Creek Road.

The post said the animal was exhausted and every second counted.

It was intense, muddy work, but the horse was eventually safely extracted thanks to “incredible teamwork,” the post said.

The 30-year-old horse is named "Big Boy," his owner Cory Wagner told The Enquirer. Wagner's partner discovered Big Boy was stuck in the creek near their Campbell County home around 6:30 a.m. Friday.

Wagner was initially unfazed, thinking horses swim in the creek regularly. But this time, things were different.

The water levels in the creek were low and Big Boy was stuck in the pond sludge. Wagner said sludge is like quicksand to horses and that Big Boy had likely got stuck during the night.

He fought so hard to try to get out, she said, he had virtually buried himself in the material.

Wagner panicked. She had loved this black and white horse for the past 28 years. She purchased him when he was 2 years old and a stallion. He was strong at that age and would try to knock down the barn walls to get to the mares. Now, he was helpless.

"He was going to drown," she said. "I wasn't going to let that happen on my watch."

She wrapped a halter and lead rope around Big Boy to keep his head above the sludge, and she called the police.

Responders arrived to the creek and dove into the mud to dig out Big Boy's legs until he was free, Wagner said.

Wagner had previously done search and rescue work and technical rescue training for Campbell County for about a decade, and Big Boy was her horse on the job. She started tearing up talking about how some of her former teammates were the ones who rescued her horse.

"I just can't thank the people who came to my house and helped me," she said as her voice broke. "I can't thank them enough. I don't know how to thank them."

Big Boy isn't "out of the woods," yet, Wagner said. His eye was swollen from the sludge, and she worries about what he may have swallowed while he was stuck.

She checks on him every 45 minutes to an hour. She says she'll feel more confident if he's healthy in the next week.

Wagner wants the public to know that if their animal is ever in a similar situation, there are people who can help.

"Horses are unpredictable," she said. "This isn't the first time a horse has gotten stuck in sludge."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'He was going to drown': Northern Kentucky horse stuck in creek for hours gets rescued