Fire/Rescue News - In Mullica Township, rescue workers, friends, neighbors band together to save horse from sinkhole

Jan Ferry searched the couple's 17.5-acre Indian Cabin Road property, calling for the 16-hands-tall - or 5 feet, 4 inches at the shoulder - horse that he named after the Atlantic Riding Center for the Handicapped, where he is an instructor.

About 15 minutes later he found Archie in a swamp area on the outside the 6-foot-high fence that wraps around their yard.

There was a patch of green grass on the outside of the fence that Ferry said Archie was likely reaching over to eat when the fence gave way under the pressure of his 1,200 pounds.

Ferry put a halter and a lead rope on Archie and started guiding him out of the swamp when Archie suddenly fell into a sinkhole.

"He was stuck straight up and down in about four feet of mud. And one of his legs was stuck under a root," said Ferry, 69, who immediately called his veterinarian and the Sweetwater Volunteer Fire Company for help. The Weekstown Volunteer Fire Company - which covers the Devonshire section of the township where the Ferrys live - and officers from the Mullica Township police department also responded to the call.

"When we got there, he had already been stuck in the mud for over an hour and was starting to go hypothermic," Sweetwater Fire Chief Gary Franklin said. "The veterinarian said the horse could only survive in there for about another hour."

The firefighters, with family, friends and neighbors who also came by to help, strapped a 1.5-inch hose underneath Archie's hindquarters to pull him out, but the massive horse kept slipping deeper into the hole every time he would try to stand.

"The horse was working with us, but it got so exhausted that it actually laid down a couple times and started snoring," Franklin said.

While crews were working, Margo Ferry said a young fireman helped calm her down.

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "We'll get him out. We won't leave until we do."

Franklin said the crews were determined to get the horse out alive.

"Obviously we were putting a lot of mental and physical energy into hoping to get him out. Almost everyone had fallen into the mud themselves, trying to help. And he was putting in a lot of effort, too," Franklin said. "We definitely developed a fondness for him."

After a couple of aborted attempts, the crew was able to put enough pieces of plywood and folded-up tarps under Archie's feet to support his weight and enable them to pull him out.

"The cheers that came from back there sounded like a football game. I couldn't help but crying," Margo Ferry said. "It was a true Thanksgiving blessing. We couldn't be more appreciative of how hard everyone worked to help save him."

Archie is already back to his ornery self, Margo Ferry said.

"Being so ornery was probably one of the things that kept Archie alive while he was stuck in the hole," she said.

But the Ferrys joked they must now adjust to Archie's newfound popularity.

"I was out on the street the other day when a young man stopped and asked me ‘Is this where Archie lives?' I told him ‘Yep, I'm his daddy,'" said Jan Ferry, adding the man was one of the firefighters who had helped saved Archie and was coming by to check up on him. "I guess pretty soon everyone in town will know Archie's name."

Contact Robert Spahr:

609-272-7283

RSpahr@pressofac.com