Editor:
On June 13, our 11-year-old daughter, Noel, and her horse had walked down the side of a running irrigation canal in the perfectly wrong place. Once in the water, the horse stumbled and fell into 2-feet of sucking mud. Noel was safe, but for over an hour neighbors and family struggled to free our friend. After a dozen thrashing attempts to be free he slumped prone into the water in surrender. We kicked, prodded and shouted, but ultimately we could only hold his huge head above the water.
A friend called 911.
Soon, the first help from the local fire department arrived. He called more help, they called for even more. And again, they called for more. Soon there must have been thirty people who came to help, the farthest from Loveland. We counted more than 10 trucks. It took five hours, start to finish, many hands and a crane-truck to rescue our horse from the irrigation canal. Our family is so grateful to the CSU vet staff, the Larimer Humane Society, the PVREA crane operator, Wellington Fire Protection District, Poudre Fire Authority, Loveland Fire Rescue Authority-Large Animal Rescue Team and anyone else who came to help. Because of you we still have our faithful friend Poncho. Thank you.
The Ricciardi family