HAUSER — Strangers were the only people Laura and Don Fisher could turn to when their horse, Rocky, was near to drowning Sunday in the Haynes Slough. And people came, people they barely knew — or didn’t know at all.

“It was horrible,” Laura said of the ordeal.

In the same breath, she expressed gratitude for her neighbors’ quick response.

“It’s just amazing how fast they got here. I don’t think you can get the fire trucks here that fast.”

Laura probably wouldn’t remember what most of the people looked like. Those strangers rushed to her Morgan horse’s aid, and she always will remember what they did for “her boy.”

Don and Laura are new to the area, having purchased their home on Haynes Way Lane in July. They were in transition between houses through the summer months and Don spent five weeks in the hospital in Eugene recently. They hadn’t had time to get to know people in their new neighborhood.

Thanks to last weekend’s unhappy accident with a happy ending, the Fishers now are acquainted with their neighbors.

It all started Sunday, when Laura noticed her Houdini-like horses had found a way to remove the chain on the gate to their corral. In a quick search of the area around their barns, she saw two of her horses, but not Rocky.

It was almost dark.

The Fishers searched the field. They walked up and down the slough on their property. There was no sign of Laura’s registered Morgan horse. The Fishers’ other two horses were standing at a spot near where Rocky had gone in, but Laura and Don didn’t notice what the horses were looking at until later.

Then Don heard it. A croaking sound, like a frog.

It was Rocky.

Only his head was above the surface of the deceptively shallow-looking slough. Rocky looked like he had given up.

Don said Rocky started thrashing around in cold mud and water as he and Laura got to him. Don tried to pull the horse out with a tractor.

Laura realized that just the two of them couldn’t get Rocky out by themselves. She ran to a neighbor, who called more neighbors. Within 10 or 15 minutes eight cars and more than dozen people had gathered with more rope and tools to fish out a horse.

A frantic Rocky continued to thrash in the water.

His rescuers worried someone could get hurt if they tried to get in the water to secure ropes around him. One man jumped in anyway and slowly Rocky calmed down.

“I think he realized people were there to help him,” Don said.

It took a crowd of people, a large quantity of rope and a tractor, but the lucky 8-year-old horse finally was able to plant his hooves on solid ground again a few hours after Don found him in the slough. 

It was dark by the time Rocky was on his feet again.

Denise Canfield was one of the many neighbors who came to Rocky’s rescue. She said once the entire group was there, the rescue didn’t take long.

Canfield, who lives on North Bay Road a few miles away from the Fishers, said she got a call from another friend.

“It was amazing how many people showed up to help,” she said.

She said rescuers put a rope around Rocky’s head and another around his belly. Then they pulled and guided him out of the slough.

Those kindly neighbors helped walk Rocky and dry him off with a blanket. Back in his warm and dry barn, Rocky seemed to be a bit of himself again. He was interested in food and treats, Don said. The next day, the only sign of what Rocky had been through was the mud in his tail and missing patches of mane.

Safely locked in his stall Wednesday, the curious horse looked as though he had suffered more from being a spoiled pet than from a near-death experience.

Laura is going to install horse-proof locks and extra fencing to ensure Rocky — or  the other two horses — don’t give a repeat performance.

Seeing their lucky horse alive, happy and in good health reminds Laura and Don of how grateful they are for the kindness of strangers.

“We couldn’t have done it without the neighbors,” Don said.