HOUSTON – Dozens of people rushed to help a livery cab horse that slipped Friday evening on a downtown street and got stuck in a storm drain.
Spectators gathered to watch as the individuals struggled to free Dolly’s legs from the storm drain. The 17-year-old horse is one of several that draws carriages in Downtown Houston.
The witness accounts of what happened varied all evening. Some feared that Dolly had just collapsed. But her handler said she simply slipped, and when she did, the carriage toppled over and she couldn't get back up.
“When she got her foot stuck she went down and she was trying to get loose and got the other one stuck," said Shauna Corbitt, a witness.
Ainslea Wolfe said she had never seen anything quite like it in all her years in Houston.
“I just ran over. And it was flailing. I just didn't know what to do,” she said.
It was tough for rescuers to free Dolly’s legs and to steady her, but they were eventually able to hoist her off the ground.
“They were trying to work with her -- trying to get it out. And I just didn't want them to break her leg, you know, to get it out,” said Vee Hughes, another witness. “Thank God they got it out safely."
