BRUNSWICK, Maine — Rescue personnel were put to the test when they were called to assist with a horse who had fallen and become stuck inside a moving trailer Sunday morning.
Brunswick Deputy Police Chief Marc Hagan said police were called to the area of the old Cumberland Farms building at the corner of Pleasant and Mill streets at 5:47 a.m. Sunday to assist the owner of a 1,200-pound horse that had apparently attempted to exit the trailer from a small side door and become stuck.
Brunswick Fire Chief Ken Brillant said the horse lost footing and slid against the chest bar, causing it to panic and attempt to get out the small door on the side of the trailer. But the horse couldn’t get up and it couldn’t get out.
Brillant said the horse’s owner, a veterinarian, was able to partially sedate the horse during the rescue.
Firefighters were going to try to use ropes and a pulley system to get the horse out of the trailer, and were going to try to use one of the department’s high pressure air bags to roll the horse up to its knees, but the horse was too heavily sedated.
The horse was removed the rest of the way from the trailer using manpower. Then crews waited for the horse to wake from the sedation to get up on its own. The horse sustained some cuts and scrapes in the ordeal, Brillant said.
The horse and owner were en route to a horse show in Massachusetts.
People headed to the same horse show had flagged down the horse’s owner when they saw there was a problem, Brillant said, so there were horse handlers on scene along with fire department and police department personnel.
Hagan said traffic was blocked by fire trucks. Police cleared the scene at 7:40 a.m.