Firefighters rescued a lucky horse that had been swallowed by a sinkhole in the backyard of a Los Angeles home on February 21. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) crews arrived at a home on West Foothill Boulevard at around 12:35 pm on Wednesday, to find a horse trapped up to its neck in “a backyard sinkhole of very soft soil”.
According to local news reports, Lucky and her owner had been riding when they both began to sink into the ground. The rider was able to escape but the mare became trapped. Captain Erik Scott from the LAFD can be heard in this footage saying more than 50 firefighters were on scene to help extract the animal. “…We had helicopters over head incase we were going to perform a hoist but it was deemed in the best interest of the horse to try and get her out on her own.”
Rescue workers can be seen wrapping yellow straps around the horse to free her. In a later X post Scott shared a video of the horse being lifted out of the mud with the help of machinery, captioning the video “Lucky is free!”. KTLA reported that Lucky did not incur any serious injuries.
Firefighters, along with other specialized teams, worked diligently for nearly three hours to free the 1,200-pound horse from the sinkhole and bring her to safety.
Photo: Diana Robinson Photography / Moment / Getty Images