Quick Action Averts Disaster

To the Editor:

I just wanted to publicly take this opportunity to thank my fellow Newtown Bridle Lands members and in particular the Gaydosh family. Without their help and level-headed thinking my usual Sunday afternoon horseback ride could have turned disastrous. While out riding my horse with a friend of mine Sunday afternoon our joy ride turned into a most harrowing experience that I would not want any horse person to go through. While we were riding the trails, or so we thought, we ended up going over a pond area that was completely covered in the newly fallen snow. You guessed it. One minute on solid ground the next completely submerged in water. My friend and I were able to pull ourselves out but the horses were trapped because they could not get their footing due to the soft ice. After approximately 25 minutes or so we were able to get my mare out, but my gelding was trapped by brush and was panicking. I thought for sure we were going to lose him. With Barbara and Gary Gaydosh’s quick thinking, they had their son Justin go down to the farm to get the backhoe with hopes of somehow breaking the remaining ice around him and tying ropes around the saddle to literally pull him out. The horse had now been in the water for at least 45 minutes and was beginning to go into shock and was starting to show signs of hypothermia. Time was of the essence. With their perseverance and quick thinking the horse was soon out. The vet had already been called and would soon be there to access the horses. In the meantime the Gaydoshes and their boarders could not have been any more generous. They retrieved as many blankets as they could regardless of whose they were and just kept bundling the horses to try to dry them off and get them warm, just to have those blankets saturated, thrown off and dry ones put on. The team effort really went beyond what words can describe. I will forever be grateful to all of you. The vet came, gave the horses some pain relievers, steroids and a total work up, beyond that there were only superficial cuts and abrasions on their bodies that should heal without much scarring.

Please, please, please riders, cross country skiers, and hikers be careful out there. If you are not absolutely positive of the area you are in, get out! We truly thought we were on the trails. Snow has a way of distorting a picture, making for a potentially dangerous situation.

Again thank you all.

Linda Souza

3 Lazybrook Road, Newtown                                       March 14, 2001