Other than being cold, tired and probably a little sore, Icy, a 19-year-old mare, is going to be fine.

On Tuesday, staff from the R Double J Ranch, bystanders and firefighters from the McHenry Township Fire Protection District worked for nearly an hour to rescue Icy, a horse that decided to go for a walk where she was not supposed to.

The ordeal started at about 12:30 p.m., said Brigitte Birong. She operates the horse barn and boarding facility at 4401 McCullom Lake Road, renting Hickory Creek Barn from the city of McHenry.

Four horses were supposed to be out in the pasture, but she only saw three and then heard one of the horses screaming.

“Icy was going crazy. She is in the pond on the other side of the fence, and she is stuck,” Birong said.

Icy’s owner, Nancy Boone, said she doesn’t know why the horse decided to go under the electric fence – maybe to eat the grass on the other side.

“This is so out of character for her,” Boone said of the mare. “She is afraid of her own shadow.”

Once Birong realized what was going on, she called for help – including 911, bringing the fire district to the scene.

The neighbors across McCollum Lake Road who also board horses, Bennett and Stefani Bergquist, along with the large animal vet tech who was at their barn, Abby Elson, ran across the road to help keep Icy calm and above the water.

Kim Quick, who also works at the R Double J, waded into the muck that had Icy stuck. She had to step carefully, standing on her tiptoes and moving her feet so she wouldn’t get stuck in the mud herself.

“You can’t plant your feel in there, or the muck sucks you in,” Quick said

Rescuers were able to get a strap around Icy’s withers, and a tow rope tied to a skid-steer that Bennett Bergquist brought over. He was able to lift Icy out of the water just enough to get her to more-solid ground, Birong said, but the horse was panicking. She had to get cut out of the straps that lifted her.

“She is not a saddle horse,” Birong explained. “She has never had a saddle on her, so she was bucking and kicking to get it off of her.”

While Icy is OK and no one was injured during the rescue, it did show that more training is needed in large-animal rescue, Birong and Quick agreed.

So does Battalion Chief David Harwood. Before Tuesday, the department did not have a lot of training in that area, he said.

“We have a lot now,” Harwood said.

He has taken classes in large-animal rescue, but it has been a few years. The R Double J staff “gave us suggestions were were able to implement, and we had an open line of communication with them.”

Harwood added: “It came to a rather rapid resolution, when you think about what we were dealing with.”

If the department were invited, they would welcome the chance to learn more, he added.

“It is not just a horse in the water. It could be a barn fire, and getting certain types of animals out safely, and firefighters into the building without getting hurt – that is a big thing, interacting with livestock and animals,” Harwood said.

Someone was planning to stay with Icy through the night and make sure she is OK, Birong said.

“She is warm and inside with her best friend.”