Horse Rescued After Falling Into Dix Hills Swimming Pool
DIX HILLS, N.Y. (AP/ CBS New York) -- A cold January night is no time to be jumping in a swimming pool -- especially if you're a horse.
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1010 WINS' Mona Rivera with the stable owner and rescuers
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WCBS 880's Sophia Hall in Dix Hills
Long Island firefighters and police officers were summoned to a Dix Hills home Thursday night, where they found a horse that had escaped through a back fence from a nearby stable. He was in a neighbor's 7-foot deep in-ground swimming pool, with only his head sticking above the water.
"I thought he was going to die," Mikey's owner, Jane Meisse, said. "I thought he was going to drown."
The horse, named Mikey, was actually one of three that escaped. The other two were caught by police officers, but Mikey had apparently fled to the rear of a home on Carlls Straight Path.
Mikey apparently fell through the ice atop the swimming pool, where authorities found him. It took EMS officers and firefighters about 40 minutes to fish him out of the water.
"When I got into the pool I actually put my body on top of the horse and the horse was just as frozen as can be," Firefighter Kris Tilles said.
Tilles and firefighter Kevin Chadrjian suffered hypothermia afer jumping into the pool to help hoist Mikey out of the freezing water, Tom Magno, assistant chief of the Dix Hills Fire Department, said.
The two firefighters were taken to Huntington Hospital where they were treated for hypothermia and released Thursday night. Tillis said it happened so quick and didn't realize how cold he got and how fast it affected him after just minutes in the pool.
Miraculously, Mikey is doing well. "Within an hour or two he was back to his normal self and wanting to eat," Meisse said.
(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
