When Happy the quarter-horse decided she hadn鈥檛 had enough attention from a human visitor, she decided to bring the attention to herself鈥攂y walking into her owner鈥檚 Great Central Lake living room and demanding it.
Happy, just three months old, only joined the Galloway family of Port Alberni a couple of months ago, from a farm in Manitoba. Rather than acting like a typical horse, Happy is more like a lapdog鈥攁 300-pound lapdog, says owner Terry Galloway.
A friend of the family had given Happy a pat in the backyard when she realized she had forgotten something in the house. 鈥淢y friend walked in the house, up the stairs, down the hall and into the living room, and the horse did too,鈥� Galloway said.
鈥淚t took Happy less than three seconds to get up those (seven) stairs.鈥�
Galloway didn鈥檛 know what to do about the horse standing in the middle of her living room, so she called 911.
鈥淭he dispatcher said is the horse panicked and I said the horse is having a nap. She鈥檚 standing right where she came up.
鈥淚t was hilarious in a way, but so scary.鈥�
The rescue was one of a kind for Sproat Lake Volunteer Fire Dept. firefighter Dallas Cann and her colleagues too.
鈥淚t was a fairly unique situation for us to be paged out on,鈥� said Cann, who is also a farrier鈥攕omeone who trims horses鈥� hooves and fits them for horseshoes.
Cann is off work at the moment with a broken leg, and isn鈥檛 able to go out on fire calls. However, SLVFD duty officer Chris Wynans called her when he heard there was a horse involved and asked if she could at least tag along. She was one of four firefighters who headed out to Galloway鈥檚 place.
鈥淣one of the other people in that hall, or even the whole fire department have experience with horses,鈥� she explained.
The challenge once they got to the house was how to get Happy back down the stairs and out of the house. Horses can handle obstacles like stairs, Cann said, if they aren鈥檛 panicked.
Firefighters along with the help of Mike Hobson, an experienced horse handler, wrapped a rope around the front of the horse in case she needed assistance. 鈥淪he made it down by herself,鈥� Cann said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if was easier for her or scarier for us to watch.鈥�
