According to Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol, a horse was rescued this past week after bucking off his rider and swimming more than two miles out to sea during a photo shoot. The white Arabian show horse named William, apparently spooked by a large wave, swam into the Santa Barbara Channel off Loon Point and headed out to sea, where his bobbing head, nearly mistaken for a seagull, was seen bobbing on the water by workers on a rig.
Santa Barbara Channel area
Spooked white Arabian horse was rescued off Santa Barbara after swimming two and a half miles out to sea.
Carpenteria-Summerland fireflighters, state lifeguards and Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol officer Ryan Kelly responded to a call for help when the horse broke away and began swimming away from shore. Using a harbor patrol boat, Kelly set out in the direction the horse had gone and finally spotted the horse's head bobbing on the waves with the head "looking like every other bird that was just sitting on the water."
Somehow, the still-saddled and bridled horse had managed to keep his head above water for nearly three hours.
Kelly and his team were able to get the horse's saddle off, attach a flotation device made of life jackets, and lash the horse to the side of their boat. Lifeguards on paddle boards help tow the horse onto shore once the water became shallow.
Cold, fatigued and frightened, William was covered in blankets and transferred to his owner and a waiting veterinarian. The horse was then rushed to a local equine center for a warm bath and rubdown treatments.