KEVIN HOWE
Monterey County Herald

Who do you call when your horse trailer overturns, your horse falls into a ravine or it becomes wedged between two trees?

San Juan Bautista Fire Chief Chris Finstead plans to have the answer in his department: a crew of trained large animal rescue specialists who will be able to respond to such emergencies in San Benito, Monterey and Santa Clara counties.

He and his lieutenant, Dan Black, were among 17 students getting instruction at the SPCA for Monterey County in how to rescue trapped horses, cattle and other large critters.

Three scenarios were set up on the SPCA animal shelter grounds: a trailer, ravine and wedged-in rescue. They marked the end of two days of training, first in the classroom, then in the field.

All 17 of Finstead's volunteer firefighters have taken the course, he said, and he and Black are the last.

Their classmates Monday included firefighters from Ventura County, animal control officers, SPCA humane investigation officers and rescue team members from around the state, said SPCA Capt. Judi Adams, supervising humane officer at the shelter.

The class is conducted by Large Animal Rescue Co. of Hollister. Owners John and Deb Fox are volunteer firefighters with the San Juan Bautista department.

"If they can learn to do this," John Fox said of his rescue students, "a human rescue is a piece of cake."

Fox fields four horse mannequins with articulated legs, necks and heads. The dummies are weighted to 400 pounds not quite half the weight of a full-size horse, but "heavy enough so they can't just do it and not so heavy they get hurt," he said.

The class is held once a year at the SPCA, Adams said, or on demand, sometimes to private groups of horse owners.

"Every time we've offered the class we've had a good turnout," she said.

Monterey County has a large horse and cattle population, said SPCA spokeswoman Beth Brookhauser, and thousands of horses are brought into the county each year to compete in horse shows, so having trained rescuers on hand can be "an important resource to our community."

The crews learn how to be proficient in the knots, slings, sleds, pulleys and winches needed to extricate big, panicked and thrashing animals from their situations, Adams said.

"It's all hand work," she said, "no vehicles pulling them out."

The Foxes travel around the country offering the class, and their next gig is in Phoenix, Fox said.

To learn more about the Large Animal Rescue Co., see www.largeanimalrescue.com.

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October 20, 2009