Miracle in the marsh

Posted: Dec. 23, 2009

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SAFE AND SOUND - Cash (left) a 5-year-old Tennessee Walker and his pal, Zoom Zoom, a 7-year-old Tennessee Walker are back safe and sound after an 12-hour adventure around the frozen countryside of the Town of Oconomowoc. Zoom Zoom had fallen in a frozen river up to his neck in mucky water and is lucky to be alive. Cash was found standing right next to him on the shore. Both horses are owned by Jacob Schulz of Twilight Farms in the Town of Erin.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

SAFE AND SOUND - Cash (left) a 5-year-old Tennessee Walker and his pal, Zoom Zoom, a 7-year-old Tennessee Walker are back safe and sound after an 12-hour adventure around the frozen countryside of the Town of Oconomowoc. Zoom Zoom had fallen in a frozen river up to his neck in mucky water and is lucky to be alive. Cash was found standing right next to him on the shore. Both horses are owned by Jacob Schulz of Twilight Farms in the Town of Erin.

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The temperature gauge read eight below zero last Tuesday evening at Twilight Farms in the Town of Erin. Nadine Buth of Oconomowoc boards her two horses at the 120-acre farm and was leaving the barn at about 6 p.m. to go home for the evening. She called to her horse Titus, who is kept in an outside paddock.

"I called to him, and he didn't respond. He usually will come running up to the fenceline to greet me, and when he didn't this time, I thought he's probably just keeping warm with the other horses because it was so cold out," said Buth.

As she was driving home on Erin Road, about five miles from the farm she said she noticed what she thought were some deer running down the road. "I slowed down, and then I realized it wasn't deer because deer don't wear horse blankets," Buth said.

Her next act would begin a chain of events that would last about 12 hours and involve about 100 friends, neighbors and even strangers. "I called Sue Schulz, the owner of Twilight Farms, to tell her what I had just seen. She went out to check on the horses and found an empty paddock. She said, 'Oh my God, where are the horses?' I told her - they're on Erin Road," said Buth, fighting back emotion as she recounted the story.

The beginning of a nightmare

Sue Schulz and her husband, Wayne, have owned Twilight Farms, just north of the Town of Oconomowoc, since 1990. The equestrian facility provides inside and outside boarding and riding and is home to 40 horses. Last Tuesday, 15 of the 20 horses which are kept in outside paddocks broke loose, running wild throughout the Towns of Ashippun, Oconomowoc and Erin.

"In all these years, this has never happened," said Sue Schulz. "We have no clue what caused the horses to bolt. Maybe they got spooked or something, but they broke through the fence and took off. It was just a nightmare."

Their worst fears still dawning on them, the Schulzes started calling family, friends and neighbors for help. In turn, those people called others. "In a short time, we had 50 to 75 people show up with trucks and trailers and blankets and halters. We heard that there were horses literally running up Highway P, so that's where we headed. The horses charged right by us because they were so scared and ended up in a marsh," said Schulz.

By this time, the herd of 15 wayward horses had split up into smaller groups and were running in different directions. Buth said she received a call that Titus had been found on O'Neil Road, north of the Town of Oconomowoc.

"I thought, what does 'found' mean? Is he alive or injured or what? O'Neil Road is more than seven miles from the barn. I raced over there, and there he was. His blanket and mane and tail were frozen solid, and he was just wild. But then I started talking to him, and he started licking me and huffing at me, like he does, and he started calming down," said Buth.

The problem then was what to do with a freezing, panicked horse? "All of a sudden here comes this lady with a 10-horse trailer. We don't know who she was or where she came from. It was a miracle," added Buth.

To the rescue

In the more than five years Randy Nell has been a police officer with the Town of Oconomowoc, he said he had never experienced anything close to what happened during his shift last week.

Nell said he used his squad's mounted spotlight to try to find the runaway horses. Over time, he said, more and more people started showing up to help find the lost herd. "There were people everywhere, and I was concerned someone was going to get hurt as they were trying to save these horses. That's when we called in the Ashippun Fire Department. Waukesha, Dodge and Washington county sheriff's departments were also there to assist," said Nell. "We could not have done this by ourselves, and I am so appreciate of all the help we received."

The situation reached its peak when they heard two horses had fallen in a pond and two more were stuck out on the ice just north of Mapleton. "We were walking through snow up to our knees, and it was zero out. With the wind chill, it was darn cold," said Nell. "But there were all these people with trailers, and we were able to pull the horses out."

Safe and sound

The group searched for the 15 horses until 4 a.m., but there were still four horses missing. Searchers went back out at first daylight to continue the rescue effort; by 11 a.m., all the horses were rounded up.

Betsy Miller owns Animal Doctors in Hartford and has been a veterinarian for 26 years. She has been the vet and a friend to the Schulz family for more than 20 years and was part of the rescue effort.

"We were all out there in subzero weather, and there was a lot of chaos and panic, and we were pulling horses out of the water and muck. We had to cut their blankets off of them because they were so frozen. Then it was just a matter of warming them up and getting them moving and checking for injuries," said Miller.

"I was surprised that all the horses made it with hardly any injuries. Running through the woods in the cold and dark and falling in the water and there were no broken bones or worse. It was a very happy ending to a very unfortunate event," she said.

Schulz said she is awed by the amount of help they received from so many people, including strangers. "I swear, I don't know where these people came from. They weren't thinking about themselves; they just wanted to save the horses. Every time we thought we needed something, it just miraculously appeared," she said.

Buth agreed. "It was inspiring to see so many people helping with the rescue. There was a horse stuck in the water and mud up to his neck and people just jumped in and were holding his head up above the water. We pushed and pushed and he would be just about out, and then he would slip back under the water. But we kept at it until we finally got him out," said Buth. "I've never seen so many people hug each other the way we did - and we didn't even know each other!"

Buth tried to explain what the horses mean to the people who own them. "My horses came into my life when I needed them most. You go through life - you work, you raise your children and you give so much. You get drained. And then all of a sudden, you get the chance to get something back, and that's what my horses are to me. They allow me to be me, and they are a very important part of my life.

"Those hooligans got lost, and they needed our help to get back home. We are just so grateful they all came home safe and sound. It was a Christmas miracle, and if this doesn't restore your faith in miracles, nothing will."