When Marek Slodkowski walked into his barn one day he was heartbroken to find ‘Freedom’ one of his horses trapped and exhausted. The prize horse had stepped onto wooden boards covering a maintenance pit, but under her weight, they had given way.
In the video, you can hear the panic and fear in Slodkowski’s voice as he begins to stuff the pit with hay. He hoped enough of it would give her the height to push herself out but sadly that didn’t work so he called the fire department.
“I just whispered Don’t die. Don’t die, into her ear”
Still, Freedom looked like she was drifting off, tired of fighting. The firemen tried tirelessly to save the horse.
“It will be OK,” he whispered to her. “It will be OK,” he said stroking her head, as she lay trapped.
Then something truly amazing happened. It was like Freedom had been given one last chance, one last burst of energy to set herself free! After hours kneeling she finally managed to get back on her feet, although she was still in the pit.
With this sign of hope, she began to use her front legs to pull herself and her hind legs to push up. Then firemen saw what she was doing and worked with her. Using a fire hose they helped to hoist her just giving her what she needed to hop up.
Slodkowski was stunned, telling the veterinarian that he really thought “This is it, she’s going to die.”
