The phone began to ring early on a recent October morning. The volunteer who answered the call heard the nervous voice, almost a shout: “I’ve got a horse down and I can’t get him up!” She took the information given by the caller and hung up. Her next call was the start of our alert process. I received the first alert, and because I was on the road, I volunteered to go immediately to the location since the first call we had received sounded serious: a horse is down, unable to stand. Our initial thought was that the horse was suffering from colic. Since the day was bleak and rainy, it seemed somehow more urgent that our actions should be swift.
