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Corolla wild horse gets head stuck — and unstuck — from ladder

Horse gets ladder stuck on head
Corolla horse gets ladder stuck on head
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COROLLA, N.C. — A wild horse in Corolla had gotten herself into an odd situation Friday morning, the Corolla Wild Horse fund told WTKR News 3.

A mare was spotted with a ladder stuck around her neck. Photos of the mare show the horse's head between the second and third step — with her foal in tow.

Corolla horse gets ladder stuck on head
Corolla horse gets ladder stuck on head

A crew tried to work with the horse to remove the ladder, but were initially unsuccessful due to her being too fast and hard to wrangle.

"We got lucky when she dropped her head to graze at one point and the ladder slipped down over one ear," the CWHF wrote on Facebook. "We all held our breath and thank goodness it fell the rest of the way off."

The full text of the Fund's Facebook post is below.

Well, we had another exciting morning. Let us preface all of this by saying the ladder is no longer around her neck and the mare and foal are both completely fine.

At about 10:30 this morning we received a call that there was a horse with a ladder around her neck. Three of our staff were very close by and found her immediately (she was pretty hard to miss), and several residents had also seen her and came to help. At first we thought maybe if she dropped her head down the ladder would slide off, but every time it hit the back of her ears she would understandably fling her head back up. Luckily she wasn’t all that bothered by it so at least we didn’t have to worry about her panicking and hurting herself or her foal. One of the characteristics of this breed is that they are very level-headed and not reactionary, and this mare was a good example of that today.

We spent about an hour trying to get her into a position where we could get close enough to pull it off but didn’t have any luck with that plan - she was too fast and there is just too much wide open space (this was one of the few times when that is a bad thing!). But we got lucky when she dropped her head to graze at one point and the ladder slipped down over one ear. We all held our breath and thank goodness it fell the rest of the way off. Everyone in the surrounding houses who had been watching from their decks cheered, and so did we. The ladder was retrieved and both the mare and the foal are just fine.

Just another day at the office. Sharing here on social media so that hopefully everyone who watched this happen in real time sees the update and can rest assured that all’s well that ends well. If you’ve seen pictures of this posted on other pages or groups, please share the link to this post so that people do not continue to worry!

We’d also like to thank our community for once again jumping in to help when needed. We didn’t even have to ask - you were there and ready to do whatever was necessary to help this horse and we are so grateful. Knowing that we can always count on you makes these very stressful situations a little less stressful.

If you witness a horse in danger or distress please call 252-453-3633. They will immediately notify CWHF and can also dispatch law enforcement if necessary.

Corolla Wild Horse Fund