Poor things! Glad they got out safely… brrr. Is it normal not to fence ponds in winter? Sounds like an accident waiting to happen if not.
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Gosh…how awful. I’m glad they are ok.
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About 40 years ago we had our geldings in a North pasture with springs into a pond.
It rarely froze, they were fine there.
This one winter we were way below 0 and the pond froze a little, but at that time it barely had 2’ of water at it’s deepest, so we didn’t worry.
Well, one morning this one young horse was in the pond and had trashed in there to the point he had made him a deep wallow, now water up to his jaw, no way to get his feet up on something to get out.
By the time I found him, he was already shocky. We didn’t have portable phones, I had to run to the house, called the vet and a neighboring feedlot, that said they were sending two men right out.
I ran back and crawled on the ice, that was trying to crack under me, until I could put a halter on the horse with a long lead and started backing up and breaking ice so he could try to come along.
Feedlot men came and one held the rope, the other and I kept breaking ice and finally had horse where he could get up on something and he walked out, wobbly and shaking.
Vet arrived and treated him for shock, we dried him out and blanketed him and put him up.
By that evening all four legs were swollen like stovepipes and it took a few days for the swelling to go down. Horse was fine after that, but it was a close call.
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After I posted this I read other similar threads and saw that happened to you. How terrifying!!! Perhaps this was a similar situation - an almost dry “pond”. I hope so, otherwise it does sound dangerous. At least now I won’t ever look at a pond as “safe” in winter, no matter how shallow. Thanks for sharing! Glad your horse (and you!) and their horses survived! It sounds like a literal nightmare.
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The majority of Montana is cattle ranches. So no, you are not going to fence off every bit of water when you’ve got hundreds or thousands of acres. Plus, in the summer months, cattle often drink out of these water sources so they need access to it. There’s quite a few horses in the video on the news ad, so I am sure the acerage was also quite large and/or the pond was used as a water source in warm months.
Usually, animals know where the water / ice and they stay off it. But, sometimes, things happen.
Last spring, my parents had a cow get out onto the dugout ice. She fell through and died and was too far out (frozen) to get her. Had to wait for spring for it to thaw and then got the carcass out.
It happens.
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Sorry for your parents’ cow. That’s sad. Also kind of ew.
I grew up with a cattle ranch - but on far less acreage and in CA. We barely had hard frosts, much less freezes. We didn’t have enough rainfall for a pond, although we did have the Russian River as a property divide. But there was no way we’d have a situation like this. Also, perhaps because our cattle were destined for beef, I don’t think we took many safeguards with regards to them that I would imagine I would take for horses (or today, for cattle as someone who doesn’t really eat beef). That said, I do understand that things happen, but I would probably fence my pond… even if normally animals knew to stay off it.
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On the west ponds are often the only water sources for domestic animals and wildlife both. To fence it off would be criminal.
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A friend of mine rode when she was a student at Syracuse (she said the barn was “lightly” heated because the area was so cold) and one of the horses got loose and also fell into a frozen (but not frozen enough) lake. He did recover, but it was a very long road. So while (hopefully) uncommon, not unheard of elsewhere, alas.
a good freind was an urban planner who when he laid out his first subdivision had about ten lots were in the middle of a lake…when he did his land survey the lake was frozen and covered with several feet of snow
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I’m guessing he was fired after that? 
no, he re-platted the subdivision
He later became a renown urban planner doing extensive work on Brasília, Brazil and light rail commuter lines in the US
He was a horseman also, owned several American Saddlebreds which he rode around town.
