An Arabian horse has miraculously survived a 5.3km swim through an irrigation tunnel after being sucked into its intake.
The tale of nine-year-old Eddie left the manager of the Wyoming irrigation scheme almost lost for words in describing the remarkable story of Eddie's survival.
The drama began last Thursday when what started out as a ride along the banks of the Shoshone River turned into a nightmare for 16-year-old Joshua Black, who was riding Eddie.
Joshua and a friend had been riding Eddie, who is owned by Powell residents Paul and Diane Watkins, along with another horse owned by the couple, an appaloosa mare named Sable.
Paul Watkins told Horsetalk the pair had been riding along the river but the going underfoot got swampy.
"They were leading them back when the river bank caved in. Eddie went into the water."
Watkins said they nearly got Eddie out twice, but the gelding slipped back into the water. In the end, the current caught Eddie and Joshua, who had no choice but to let the horse go in order to save himself.
"Eddie went under and they did not see him again."
Eddie, with his full tack, was sucked into the intake of the 5.3km (3.3 mile) Corbett tunnel, which services the Shoshone irrigation district.
Scheme manager Bryant Startin said the concrete-lined tunnel, which has a curved top and is shaped much like a horseshoe, was carrying 740 cubic feet of water a second on the day of the accident.
 Eddie is undoubtedly pleased to be back home and grazing with his buddies. 
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It is about 3.35m (11 feet) wide and 3.2m (10.5 feet) deep, meaning Eddie would have been swimming in at least 2.44m (8 feet) of water.
Eddie would have taken 45 to 50 minutes to get through the tunnel, he said.
He estimates Eddie might have had about 60cm (two-foot) of headroom at the very top of the tunnel, enabling him to breathe, but he is certain the horse would have been submerged for the first 30.5m (100 feet) of the tunnel journey.
Startin said that before Eddie even entered the tunnel he had to go through one of the head gates, which control the flow. This meant Eddie must have been sucked at least 1.5m (5 feet) under water to pass through it. He then would have been submerged for 30m or so before he got access to the tiny area of breathing space at the roof of the tunnel.
He suspects Eddie must have been facing backwards to be able to pass through the gate.
"It's absolutely amazing he survived," Startin said. "It's a miracle.
"He would have been in the pitch black for three miles, wondering what the hell was going on. And he makes it out and survives. It's the most fascinating story ... unbelievable.
"How he lived is beyond me.
"We are very happy for the horse and his owner."
Startin said even after Eddie emerged he would have been sucked under again to pass beneath another gate, which would have submerged the horse for another 6m (20 feet).
Eddie remained in the open canal, partially submerged, until Saturday when an irrigation scheme worker found him standing in water up to his belly.
A rescue operation was mounted and Eddie, with grazes and cuts, was led from the canal.
Eddie's owner confessed that everyone thought he had drowned.
"He went under and never came up."
News of Eddie's survival took the couple from despair to elation.
"It was really a miracle he survived."
Eddie had a lot of scrapes and cuts but only one of them - on a leg - was serious enough to require bandaging.
Eddie was found to have a high fever and a veterinarian put him on antibiotics. He was also severely dehydrated from his ordeal and received 21 litres of fluids intravenously.
Watkins says Joshua is the son of Kent Black, a pastor in Powell. The couple discovered Joshua and a companion were looking for horses to ride, and their two were in need of exercise.
"Joshua was just devastated," Watkins said of the accident. "Of course, we all were. Nobody could have imagined he survived this."
 Eddie seems back to his normal self only days after the accident, says owner Paul Watkins. |
He said Eddie is back in his pasture and seems back to his normal self.
Incredibly, it is not Eddie's first tale of survival.
Watkins said he bought Eddie from Montana in 2007, when the horse was seven.
Eddie was living near Seeley Lake, Montana. At the time Watkins was due to pick Eddie up, forest fires were sweeping the area. The area was evacuated of people and stock, and Eddie was missing from his paddock when the time came to leave.
The horse was missing for a week to 10 days as firefighters worked to control the blazes.
Eddie, in effect, rescued himself. "He found the firefighters," Watkins explained.
"He made it just fine. They were feeding him apples."
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