Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Weekend with a Mission

Spent this past weekend in Virginia Beach.  If you have read my profile, then you know that I am a great lover of sunrises over the ocean.  This first photo needs no explanation and if you didn't share my passion before, you surely will after experiencing one...


Ah...a bit of peace in this chaotic world.

The rest of the weekend was a little less than peaceful, though it did bestow a great wealth of knowledge that you may or may not find interesting.  But since this is my blog and it interests me, here it goes :) ...

I spent the weekend in a Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue training class.  For the first few days I listened and participated.  The last day, I took a few photographs to share.  

Dilemma:  There is a horse that has wandered into a mud hole and is now stuck...   


Granted, the horse pictured was constructed from a water drum, some PVC pipes and some wooden boards, but the rescue in such would be the same :)  First step was to place the bucket under the horses nose to keep him from drowning in the mud.  Without going into too much detail, the following steps involved using a fire truck pumping water and a few tools created specifically for these rescues...

The "Nicopoulis needle" forces water through the mud to allow space to feed the webbing through...

Once the webbing is in place, the handles are attached to the lift on the crane...
 


 With a little power from the crane...VOILA!!!!!! The horse is released from the dangerous pull of the mud...


And just for fun, if it was a real emergency situation, the results would look a little more like this:


A special thank you to "Torque" for putting up with our shananigans of the weekend.  Him and his sister, "Aerial" were wonderful sports :)  If you find any interest in this short blurb you have seen, then I absolutely recommend the class, which is open to anyone.  Apparently "CARTs" (County Animal Rescue Teams) exist around the world to assist with the search and rescue of animals during disasters.  All of the information you need can be found at http://www.tlaer.org/.  I highly encourage anyone open to the idea to get involved as there truly is a great need.
The training took place at a the Virginia Beach Mounting Patrol Facility, so I will leave you with a few of my favorites...