Amish Horse Collapses On Highway & Falls Into Water — Deputies Help Owner Save It
This sort-of dramatic story with a happy ending comes from an Amish community in the excellently-named Otter Tail County, Minnesota.
It turns out that an Amish horse collapsed while traveling on a highway – falling into water of some sort. The details come from a law enforcement roundup report at the Perham Focus:
[May 11] 11:40 a.m., Horse reportedly collapsed on the roadway after suffering a medical emergency. The incident occurred near the intersection of county highways 135 and 52.
The blotter stated the horse fell on the roadway and then into water, where its head was being held up by an Amish rider.
Deputies arrived on scene and assisted until a veterinarian arrived along with a payloader and trailer.
The blotter stated the horse was hoisted up and transported back to an Amish community, and that the horse was alive when it left the scene of the incident.
I called it a happy ending, not knowing how it ended up once it got home, but hopefully that horse made it through under veterinary care.
It’s unclear how deep was the water, though if his owner was holding the head up you have to assume it was deep enough to present a threat to its breathing. No details as to what sort of “medical emergency” caused it to collapse.
Unless there’s been some May Minnesota heat wave I’m not aware of, I doubt temperature had much to do with it, at this time of year and at that latitude. Perhaps it was overworked.
And this may be stating the obvious, but this little story is another good example running counter to the myth of Amish self-sufficiency.
Here you had both law enforcement, a veterinary professional, and whoever operated the payloader (could have been the vet as well) coming to an Amish person’s aid. Just a couple of the non-Amish professions that Amish depend upon.
Otter Tail County in fact has two separate Amish settlements, at Wadena (founded 1972, 195 Amish) and New York Mills (founded 2014, 100 Amish – statistics via the Young Center Amish settlement list).
Fun fact, Otter Tail County has more lakes than any other county in the United States, with a total of 1,048. So perhaps a horse falling into a body of water in this county should not come as a great surprise.
Horse Rescued From Water
As a native Minnesotan I didn’t even realize Otter Tail County had so many bodies of water. I know we’re the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” but SHEESH!! Or as some of like to say, “10,000 lakes and a few dead fish.” Lol. Thank goodness the horse survived. What a marvelous story. Helps restore my faith in humanity. Thanks, Erik.
Heheh, never heard that addendum to the state tagline. And yea this county is doing its part in that isn’t it!
Hahaha
Otter Rail County, that’s original. I don’t see a resemblance to the county’s shape, so it sounds like someone was told to close their eyes and the first thing they saw when they opened their eyes would be the county name.
Grateful the rider was able to hold the head above the water. Sure hope the horse is returning to full health.
Oops
Tail, not Rail. I can read and type, I promise.
I believe you, but Otter Rail would be a solid name too 🙂