JAMUL (CNS) - Emergency crews and animal-welfare workers Monday rescued a horse who tumbled about 100 feet down a steep slope in the eastern San Diego County back country, and then had to spend the night injured in a remote ravine.
Eight-year-old Dobby slipped and fell off a trail near state Route 94 and Honey Springs Road shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday as his owner's daughter was riding him on a group horseback outing in the Hollenbeck Canyon area of Jamul, according to Cal Fire and the San Diego Humane Society.
Dobby's rider was able to jump off of him, suffering only minor cuts and bruises, as he went over the edge of the rugged embankment, said Brent Pascua, a fire captain with the state agency.
While emergency personnel were en route, the injured horse's owner made her way down to him and tried to stop his bleeding with padding material she removed from her riding helmet, Humane Society spokeswoman Nina Thompson said. When firefighters got to Dobby, they replaced those makeshift dressings with pressure bandages.
After responding to the emergency along with Cal Fire and the county Department of Animal Services, eight members of the SDHS Emergency Response Team hiked about five miles down the hillside to where Dobby had wound up. They found him stranded on the brushy slope above a creek bed, suffering from belly lacerations and cuts -- one down to the bone -- on two of his legs.
Following the emergency treatment, the Humane Society team members walked the horse down to level terrain across a stream that runs through the gulley. At that point, they hiked back out of the ravine, putting the rescue on hold due to the onset of darkness.
About 1 a.m., the team went back down into the gorge to comfort the horse and provide him with food, water and a blanket.
About 7:30 a.m., the rescuers returned along with a veterinarian, who checked on Dobby's wounds. They initially hoped to airlift him from the gorge, but, discovering that no available emergency-services helicopter was available, realized they had to lead him out by ground.
"During a four-hour effort, they walked the horse back in tough terrain to the staging area up top, where Cal Fire and (Animal Services personnel) were on standby," Thompson said.
A veterinarian then re-bandaged Dobby's leg wounds, after which his owner, a Ramona resident, loaded him into a trailer for a trip to a North County veterinary critical-care facility.
Throughout his ordeal, the injured horse remained calm, much to the relief of his rescuers, Thompson noted.
"We hope Dobby will make a full recovery," the Humane Society spokeswoman said. "Our (emergency team) members say they are very impressed by his ability to maneuver the tough terrain while injured."
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