Horse Pulled From Icy Pond by Saratoga Springs Police Later Joined the Force

In February 2025, a 22-year-old quarter horse named Sly fell through the ice of a pond in Saratoga Springs, New York. Police officers, neighbors, family members and his owner pulled all 1,300 pounds of him back out. That June, the Saratoga Springs Police Department introduced him as the newest member of its mounted unit.²³

Few new recruits arrive with bodycam footage of their first meeting with the department.

A rescue on the ice

The rescue happened on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025.² Owner Ali Ernst had seen her three horses playing on the pond, which she said was not unusual. When she looked again, Sly had gone through the ice. She called for help, ran to the hole and grabbed his halter to hold his head up.²

“I was losing the battle to keep him above water alone,” Ernst told the Associated Press.²

Officer Kyle Clinton arrived first and helped Ernst get Sly’s head back up onto the ice. Two more officers, neighbors and family members joined in, and according to the AP report carried by Fox News, a group of nine eventually got the horse out of the water.¹ Bodycam footage released by the department shows how hard that was.¹

Outlets credited the effort a little differently. WNYT named Officers Clinton, Kris Camarro and Dom Martuscello, with help from employees of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.⁴ NEWS10 reported that police worked with fire department officials.³

From hypothermia to home

Sly was back on his feet within a few minutes and was taken to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.¹ That was convenient: Ernst works there as a technician.¹

His body temperature after the rescue was 93 degrees, NEWS10 reported.³ Ernst said he was hypothermic at first but had recovered enough to go home by that Wednesday.²

“There’s an electric fence up around the pond now,” Ernst told the AP.²

A second career

Sly was later donated to the department’s mounted unit and introduced to the public at High Rock Park on June 27, 2025.³⁶ He is expected to help with community engagement and crowd control.⁵⁶

The people who pulled him out got their own recognition that summer. Officers Clinton, Camarro and Martuscello, along with Warren Cutler of the Wilton Fire Department, were honored on First Responders Day at Saratoga Race Course.⁷

Clinton played down his part.

“I don’t know if it was so much an act of bravery, as it was just the right place, the right time,” he told NEWS10.⁷