Three incidents involving horses in four years was enough to prompt the Carbon County Animal Response Team to host its first-ever large animal rescue training Saturday in Mahoning Township.

Almost 20 volunteers, split between the Carbon County and Lehigh Valley CART teams, gathered on Chapel Field to practice two emergency in-field rescue scenarios, both of which involved saving between 800- to 900-pound horses.The horses were mannequins donated by Penn State University."We do see some large animal incidents in Carbon County," said Michele Beckett of Carbon CART. "We can be activated by 911 dispatchers, for example, if animals are involved in a fire or a tractor-trailer topples over in an accident. Any time there is a rescue needed, we can be called into action."Saturday's scenarios included hauling and lifting the horses."For our lifting system, we used the Becker Sling, which allows us to get underneath the animal with a large piece of equipment, a backhoe for instance, and pick up the horse," said Darrell Singles of the Lehigh Valley CART. "There are some other systems we can build, but the CART teams don't have the equipment for that, so that is why we rely on heavy equipment."Singles said the Becker Sling is a specialized piece of equipment owned by Lehigh Valley CART, and every opportunity to practice using it is a positive."The sling is large animal specific," he said. "Staying efficient with it is critical. Most of the time horses are down for several hours before they call us. Until we get out there, it could be a long time. Being efficient with how to do things when we get there will improve the survival chances for the horse."The teams also practiced the lessons learned in their ropes and rigging classes taken during the past two weeks."We set up haul systems for horizontal moves," Singles said."Basically, we drag them across the field. The scenarios involved dragging the horse out of a ditch and getting them to a truck or a place of egress where they need to get out."Saturday's event was important to keep skills fresh, according to Diane Sharpless, of Carbon CART."Today was a great chance to get out and do a full-scale drill with many aspects of what we have learned over the past several weeks."Beckett said Lehigh Valley CART holds training several times a year and Carbon is also looking to increase its practice time."We're headed in the right direction," she said. "We have had some interest from folks involved with the fire company and it's always great if we can become incorporated in what one another is doing so we become familiar with each other."Recently, Carbon purchased its own rope hauling system with funds raised from motorcycle rides in 2013 and 2014.Saturday was the first utilization of the equipment."We were out on two horse details with East Penn Fire Company and saw the need to have our own large equipment," Beckett said.Carbon CART is always looking for donations."Like fire companies, our equipment is not cheap," Beckett said. "We still need a bipod system and that will be around $5,000. You can't just walk into Walmart and get that."Carbon CART plans to hold a sheltering program in April.