Frosty the horse was rescued from the brink of death after he was found partially submerged in a frozen Lehman Creek in January, and with support from local communities and horse-lovers across the country, he’s recovered and settling into his new life.
A resident had found the animal trapped in the stream near the resort village of Cochin, Sask., and the village’s mayor, Mark Pattinson, and his friend Ed Scott were able to rescue Frosty.
When they were finally able to pull him free, they knew immediately that he wasn’t in good condition.
“We were very close to getting the RCMP officer to take his life, but we gave it a few more seconds and he scrambled himself to his feet and just started walking,” Pattinson had told a CBC reporter back in January. Frosty made it all the way to a maintenance shop, where he had to wait for help.
Frosty refused to give up, and his spirit has yet to be broken.
Frosty’s owner had passed away, and he needed someone new to take care of him.
Pattinson knew the horse needed medical attention, and began calling around local horse owners. All of them refused to take him in, until Pattinson called Leslie-Ann Smith, a local farmer.
“I didn’t know what to expect and it was worse than I ever expected. This horse was skinny and covered in ice and looks so dull,” Smith said, recalling the moment she and her husband, Gerry Smith, first saw Frosty.
“You can just see he was in a lot of pain.”
Smith and her husband were ready to do the work to ensure Frosty could recover.
They loaded him up a trailer and took him to Lakeland Veterinary Service to get treated for his injures. Frosty had to stay for a whole week, as his injuries were extensive.
Smith says he had a hernia from the strain of trying to get out of the creek, and the hernia had ruptured out of his left leg.
Horse with no home saved from frozen creek near Cochin, Sask.
His recovery took weeks, with many trips back and forth to the veterinarian and multiple different kinds of therapies.
Those were expensive treatments, but aid came in quickly for the couple. Smith had shared Frosty’s story on social media, which helped it spread across the country.
“Money just started coming in directly to the vet, some was sent to us. So that helped cover his bills,” Smith said. They had people reach out from across the country, even as far out as Nova Scotia, who wanted to know how Frosty was doing and what he needed.
“It’s a feel-good story, right? It’s like we seem to have really open hearts for animals, you know, and that’s why I’m trying to say [that] we also have to have open hearts for people.”
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It’s been nearly seven months since Frosty’s rescue.
At first, Smith says he was withdrawn and didn’t show much of his personality. When he moved into his new home at the Smith farm, he was antisocial with humans and other horses.
But now Frosty is a whole new horse.
“He knows his place with the horse herd. But he’s a gentle giant … And he’ll come up and just put his head over your shoulder. Like to say ‘good morning.’ [… ] He’s just a good boy. And I think he likes living with us,” Smith said. “He’s just full of love.”
A lot of communities and organizations heard Frosty’s story and wanted the chance to meet him, so now the horse has hit the road. He made his debut at the Tony Cote Summer Games and horse relay.
Smith mentioned that she found records of Frosty being a relay horse in his past, but she has no plans to bring him back on the track. Right now, Smith says she just needs to keep taking care of him.
“You just can’t give up. Someone could have easily just said we need to put him down, and he showed ‘I’m not ready for that’ and got himself up.”
She says Frosty’s story speaks to an inner strength that we all have. “People say [animals will] tell you when they’re ready for something. And I believe that. And people are the same way.”
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In the months since his rescue, Frosty has become a local celebrity. He was even gifted an embroidered blanket with his name on it. Smith says he was walking a little higher that day.
“He really thought he was all that and a bag of chips,” she laughed.
At the end of the day, Smith says that Frosty knows he’s loved and that he’s well cared for.
She says none of this would have been possible without the help from the communities in Cochin, Saulteaux First Nation, and Moosomin First Nation.
It took everyone coming together towards a common goal, along with the horse’s own will to live, Smith says, to save Frosty.
