Veterinarian Walks A Mile In Snow To Help Sick Horses

ELBERT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- This weeks's Bomb Cyclone, an unprecedented blizzard to hit Colorado, left many roads impassable. But that didn't stop one veterinarian from finding a way to get to his patients.

Dr. Dale Rice has a reputation out in Elbert County.

"He is like Santa for animals. He just always comes through," says horse trainer Jax Penn.

Rice is a veterinarian who works out of him home, it's his life's passion.

"It's the best job ever. I get to do what I want to do, I get to help people, help animals."

So, getting a call for help from Terolyn Horse Rescue on Thursday wasn't unusual.

"We woke up to one of our horses colic-ing and was really sick and also this guy right here, Artex, had a really bad wound on his front leg," said Penn.

They didn't expect to see him because the roads were impassable. The March blizzard had dumped feet of snow in some areas.

"We just figured we would have to do what we could and jimmy rig everything and just hope that these guys would survive," said Penn.

Rice had other plans.

"I just put a pack saddle on a horse and I was originally going to ride the horse over there, but there was too much stuff to carry so I ended up walking."

It took him over an hour to walk the mile in the snow to the horse. After a brief rest, he got to work. He thinks the quick action was crucial to the survival of the horse with colic.

"I absolutely feel like we saved that horse," said Penn.

His neighbors at the horse rescue couldn't be more appreciative, "I can't even describe how incredible of a person dale is he is truly amazing."

Rice typically takes many different forms of payment but what he would really like to see in exchange for what he did on Thursday is for people to make donations to horse rescues like Terolyn.

LINK: Terolyn Horse Rescue