William the wonder horse : Harrowing rescue can't shake
prized animal
By SCOTT STEEPLETON NEWS-PRESS CITY EDITOR
May 17, 2012 5:55 AM
IV bags? Check.
Clean bedding? Check.
A caring doctor? Check.
William's room at the medical center has everything a patient needs to
get healthy - including all the fresh food he can eat.
And in this case, that means lots of hay.
William is a 6-year-old Arabian horse that took an unexpected swim
in the Pacific Ocean Tuesday night, crossing 2.2 miles of the Santa
Barbara Channel before rescuers got to him and slowly towed him back
to shore where he started, at Loon Point. There, he and other horses
were models for participants in a photo clinic.
Trainer Jim Lowe, right, holds the reins of
William the Arabian horse, veterinarians
Ashley Troncatty, left, and Troy Herthel use
ultrasound to check the horse's lungs
Wednesday at Alamo Pintado Equine
Medical Center.
MIKE ELIASON/NEWS-PRESS
On Wednesday, the beautiful white stallion, known in Arabian circles
as Heir of Temptation , was recuperating at the Alamo Pintado Equine
Medical Center in Los Olivos, and doing quite well, despite the
two-and-a-half-hour ordeal.
"He just looked great," Mindy Peters, movie producer and a thirdgeneration Arabian breeder, said of her horse, which is valued at about
$150,000.
"He looked like nothing had happened."
Indeed, at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, 12 hours after setting foot back on
land, William was standing tall inside his private stall, clean sawdust at
his feet, a tube connecting him to several intravenous bags hanging
above his head. His dark eyes followed every movement, his ears every
sound.
Veterinarian Lisa Teske is overseeing the
care of William the Arabian horse, which
includes intravenous fluid therapy. SCOTT
STEEPLETON/NEWS-PRESS
"There's still water in his lungs," said his 44-year-old owner, "and he's taking antibiotics. But for all that
happened, it's amazing that he didn't cut his legs on something or that he didn't get tangled up when he
was tied to the (rescue) boat."
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Perhaps it's amazing he was able to swim at all, given his long tail was
wrapped around one leg. Part of the tail had to be clipped after his
rescue.
When William arrived at the medical center by trailer Tuesday night,
"We could hear a little noise in its lungs," founder Dr. Douglas Herthel
told the News-Press.
Saltwater was the obvious source.
William grazes at Alamo Pintado Equine
Medical Center under the watchful eye of
trainer Jim Lowe.
MIKE ELIASON/NEWS-PRESS
"His kidneys are functioning fine," said the veterinarian. "All his blood
work came back pretty good, except his muscle enzymes were off the chart."
That's to be expected, given all the paddling William did.
"He actually arrived warm," said Dr. Herthel. "They had him blanketed so well."
Water temperature at the time of the swim was in the mid 50s, and while a human might consider that
too cold, the horse probably benefited from the chilly dip.
"The bacterial level in cold, cold water is actually a heckuva lot lower than warm water," Dr. Herthel said.
The veterinarian overseeing William's care is Dr. Lisa Teske .
"His condition (upon arrival) was amazingly good," she said. "He was very tired, his muscles a little shaky.
But he's a tough guy."
"Being an Arabian, I think, has a lot to do with his endurance level. He's pretty fit."
Dr. Herthel said being at the beach can have a negative effect on some horses.
"The waves come in and the water swirls and sometimes they'll get vertigo."
Ms. Peters said the horse was on a lead in shallow waters when the waves startled him. And he darted into
the ocean despite attempts to get him back to shore.
Once there, he gave new meaning to the term sea horse.
Bruce Johnston, superintendent of Carpinteria-based oil producer Pacific Operators Offshore, knew
someone at the shoot who called to say they needed help.
He called Steve Roberts, captain of the company's 100-foot crew and cargo boat, the Matthew, telling
him to turn back from his course to Carpinteria and head to the Loon Point area, which is off the north
end of Padaro Lane.
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By the time Mr. Roberts got to the animal, the onboard radar indicated they were 2.2 miles from shore.
Mr. Johnston, who was communicating with his captain from the beach, said, "When I sent him out, it
seemed like we were going to have to do a recovery."
Not if William had anything to do with it.
"Everyone was surprised the horse was still swimming," said Mr. Johnston.
For its trips between Carpinteria or Port Hueneme and the two offshore rigs owned by Pacific Operators,
the Matthew carries lots of ropes and many life jackets, items that the personnel from Carpinteria-Summerland Fire
Protection District , the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol and California State Parks, who got the horse by
boat and personal water craft, used to make the rescue happen. That entailed tying the horse to the side of
a harbor patrol boat while a rescue swimmer from the fire department and a state parks lifeguard, both
now aboard the harbor patrol boat, held on to the animal.
Giant lights aboard the Matthew were bright enough to guide the way of the much smaller harbor patrol
boat, which slowly and surely towed the horse to safety, an operation that took one hour and 45 minutes.
In a worst-case scenario, Mr. Johnston said, his crew was prepared to help emergency personnel get a sling
under the horse and hoist it alongside the larger boat.
This isn't the first time Mr. Johnston's company has come to a rescue at sea. They have assisted stranded
boaters, and when two paddle boarders got in trouble off the Carpinteria coast about 10 years ago, Pacific
Operators Offshore was there to lend a hand.
"This is all of our water, and anybody who's in distress, we help," Mr. Johnston said.
In two weeks, assuming he's cleared to do so, William will compete in a horse show, and in a month or so,
he'll be in a youth show with Ms. Peters' daughter, Kendyl Peters, in the saddle.
Then in October, William will compete at the U.S. National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship
Horse Show in Tulsa, Okla., where he could take the English pleasure class.
A Facebook page will soon go up with lots of pictures from his fateful day, a move that is sure to win the
horse many new friends.
Where can you find it?
Just look up William the Wonder Horse. email: [email protected]
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