Team effort saves horse

Published 12:11 pm Wednesday, August 1, 2007

EVERETT – With a toss of her mane, a whinny and a sigh, Charizma finally stood on her own shaky legs.

The 4-year-old filly was rescued Tuesday after spending hours stuck on her side in a deep drainage ditch at the back of a pasture in the 5900 block of Larimer Road.

But that’s putting the horse before the excavator.

This horse tale has a happy, albeit muddy, ending.

It all started when Charizma, a dark brown Friesian Arabian sport horse, slid down an embankment while feeding on grass.

The deeper she slid, the more scared she became.

“Once they start to panic, they stomp their feet,” said Kate Waikins, 24, Charizma’s trainer.

The more she stomped, the more stuck she became.

By the time Everett firefighters, animal control, neighbors, her owner and a large-animal veterinarian arrived, they found they were saddled with quite a problem.

The horse was immobilized in mud, lying in a steady stream of waist-deep cool water.

“I just wanted her to know that it’s OK and that we’re going to take care of her,” the horse’s owner, Karen Blankenship, 45, of Bothell, said. She jumped in the ditch to hold the horse’s head to comfort it.

One neighbor fetched his backhoe, another the excavator.

“We’ve been doing this for years, as far as helping each other out,” neighbor Hugh Henrickson said.

After some hasty deliberation in the mud, blackberry bramble and nettles, a sling was slipped under Charizma’s belly and a plan devised.

Henrickson swung the long, yellow arm of his excavator over the ditch. Using a chain, the machine lifted the sling and gently pulled Charizma to her feet.

“We all love our animals down here,” he said.

Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital’s Dr. Clint McKnight gave Charizma a sedative to calm her nerves and listened to her heart.

She’ll likely be just fine, he said.

Everett firefighter Mike Juozapaitis has rescued cats, rats, dogs, snakes and a turtle, but this was his first horse.

Covered in mud and dirt, he shrugged off praise for the successful effort he orchestrated.

“It’s just what we do, it’s what we’re trained to do,” he said. “It isn’t far off from what we do for humans, just on a bigger scale.”

Blankenship said everyone’s kindness came out Tuesday.

“Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you,” she said.

It’s no surprise to see neighbors lending a helping hand, Juozapaitis said.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “Everett’s an amazing city. We see it happen all the time.”

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.