The Incredible Rescue Today of a Stranded Horse Named...

"Colorado"

Arizona has received quite a bit of rain in the last couple of weeks. A dry river bed in Buckeye, a suburb of Phoenix, was flooded because of the rain. The water current in the river bed was running fast!

Last Friday three horseback riders went into the river thinking it wasn't deep, they were looking for their dogs that had run off. Unfortunately the river bed was deeper than they thought.

One horse who had been injured while trying to escape the flooded river bed was put down because of the severity of his injuries. A second horse was pulled out of the river that evening. A third horse made it to a sand bar (it's sort of like an island) and has been stranded there since Friday. He spent four very long days on this island, until today.

A crew consisting of Equine Vets and helicopter pilots rescued the horse this morning. It was quite dramatic!

The picture below shows them preparing Colorado for liftoff. They have administered a tranquilizer to help keep him calm, the harness has been attached along with a blindfold over his head.


The following picture shows Colorado on liftoff, you can see the dirty brown water around the island...


Then incredibly he was in the AIR!


How awesome is this? Colorado had a soft, safe landing, YAY!

This story touched so many of us here in the Valley. Thanks to an anonymous donor who paid for the helicopter, Colorado is safe. :)

Wishing all of you a Wonderful day!