PA bog stories, bad and good endings

["Brickson" <brickson@delanet.com>]

Use caution if you swim your horse in a lake, too.  Last year in central PA
one big rider on a big horse took it down into the water at a reservoir to
get a drink and wave at some boaters.  His horse started to sink, but he
didn't get off.  The horse struggled but never made it out.  There was silt
build-up at that spot from a run-off.  The boaters couldn't get there in
time to help, and the riders' buddies and the rider almost got stuck fast,
too.  This story was from Jeff's buddy at work (he was in the boat).  I
guess look for the run-off ditch areas that run to with lakes from fields
that are plowed often or where there is other erosion.  Another clue is to
look for stones at the bottom in clear water, which might indicate lack of
silt build-up, or don't go in.

A couple years ago at Lake Nockamixon in a remote area when the snow was
mostly melted, there was a large culvert that gave way under a horse.   The
horse got stuck fast in the muck either at the spot or near it after a
struggle.  The rider and her buddy couldn't get the horse out, and it tired.
They called their husbands, and 6 of their big friends to come out in jeeps
with ropes to help get it out.  They did, after quite a bit of work.  The
horse was too exhausted to help by then.  They said "if it hadn't been a
scrawny little Arab" they wouldn't have been able to do it without special
equipment.  The horse went home wobbly and covered with clayey mud, even in
its ears, and recovered completely after a few days of warm water, mashes,
and catering.
bb
Jeff and Bridget Brickson