Horse rescued after being swallowed by sinkhole

Members of the Wrenshall Fire and Rescue Squad in northern Minnesota could hardly believe their eyes when they responded to a call along the Willard Munger State Trail recently and found a horse swallowed by the ground. Melissa Aurand of Eagan, had been riding a horse named Stormy along an unpaved stretch of the trail. Her husband, Zach, was riding ahead of her.

“All of a sudden, Stormy started to sort of topple sideways,” Melissa said. Aurand said. “I thought maybe she had passed out or something. I was tossed off just as her back legs began to slip into the ground.” Alert to what was happening, Zach jumped off his horse and ran back to where Melissa was. “The horse was slowly sinking into the ground, like she was in quicksand,” Melissa said. Zach grabbed Stormy’s halter and tried to tow her out with his horse, but to no avail.

Stormy went from sliding slowly into the hole to disappearing completely beneath ground level. Zach jumped down into the gaping hole to check on the horse and keep her steady until help arrived. Melissa said her cell phone was in her saddle pack, so Zach had to dig it out and toss it up to her so she could call 911. When seven responders from Wrenshall Fire and Rescue pulled up, they walked to Melissa and said casually, “How’s it going?” It was then that Zach stuck his cowboy hat up through the hole and started waving it at them.

“The man was about 6 feet tall, and when we got there all we could see was the top of his cowboy hat,” said Peter Laveau, first assistant chief. “The hole must have been 9 or 10 feet deep.” Laveau said the sinkhole was big enough for the horse and Zach to stand up in. The rescuers used shovels to dig out a path for Stormy to climb out of the hole. Stormy remained pretty calm throughout the ordeal and emerged with only a small cut on a shoulder. “I could not have asked for a happier ending,” Melissa said.