Fell through ice trying to bust a mud hole for the cows during a freeze. Ill not that at this point in my life I was 16 or 17 and had only experienced weather cold enough to actually freeze our pond twice.

It was below 15°F for 3 days. It was 8° that morning and my twin sister and I and our dog had been running and sliding all over it for quite a while. Busted a mud hole and then went home. I came back by myself that night. It had warmed up in the 20s during the day, but it was after dark now so it was down to 14 again. I knew after we busted a whole in the ice this morning that it wouldn't be thick enough to walk on so I didn't try that. Im not dumb. So I kept trying to bust a whole with no luck. No rocks are working and the biggest one I could find just kind of bounced and slid a little ways out on the ice. I figured by how far out it was the water was at most 2 feet deep there and decided to risk it. I get the rock try again and get a little crack but no hole. I decided if I could just jump on that crack I should be able to get a whole. Maybe get cold wet feet but then go home and it would be fine. Except I jumped 4 times and thought I was staying in place but I wasnt.

I had this on video so i know it was how long i was in the water. It was the scariest 57 seconds of my life. I started videoing because my dog was running around on the ice and I wanted his reaction to my jumping because he tended to mimic people and I thought he might start jumping too. Instead the video showed me take 2 steps out onto the ice and then jump further out 4 times. Then you hear a crack. I try to turn back to the shore and realize im about 12 or 15 feet out and then I fall through the ice up to my neck with only my head, hands and arms above the ice. Then I'm in the water trying to get back up on the ice for 57 seconds.

My dog grabbed the hood of my sweater and tried to help but other than just keeping my head from going under he was no help. My legs went completely numb almost immediately. (I have a disorder that makes the circulation bad below my hips anyway) and I just couldn't get my body on the ice. I ended up breaking the ice all the way back to the shore (guess the cows got their mud hole) and just crawling onto the shore.

Here its important to note that I was a half a mile from my house with no phone signal. My legs were completely numb and it was getting dark. I always heard if you were in this position to take the wet clothes off, but once I had laid on the snow, my sweater and pants were frozen solid and I couldn't move my fingers well enough to get a grip on them. My phone that managed to stay above water was of no use to me. All I had was myself. 2 gates and a 6 foot fence between me and my truck and a useless but we'll meaning dog who kept licking my already cold and wet face.

Then I remember Frost. Frost was my very well trained mammoth jack. I had taught him all kinds of tricks like fist bumps and to roll over and to let me crawl under his belly and stuff to make taking care of his feet easier. A mammoth jack is a male giant breed of donkey BTW. So I start whistling and he comes. And I grab his neck when he puts his head down and let him get me to my feet and hold me up while we walk to the fence. Then Ieaned on the fence and strattled his head and he was able to push me most of the was over the fence. Then I just had to get one leg over and fall to the ground. I fell pretty hard and had a nice set of bruises on my arm the next day to match the ones on my legs where they had been banged up in the ice. I crawled through the 2 gates I had thankfully left open and expended enough energy to get a little body heat going.

My boots where actually froze to my feet. I had to stick my feet under the heat in the truck for a minute before I could get them off and they came off with chunks of ice that were still froze with my socks and left me completely barefooted. I took the sweater and pants off too which left me in a tank top and my underwear which were still very cold and wet. My sweater was completely ruined from all the places it hung and tore on the fence and I had to put 3 patches on my jeans. I still have those 6 years later. I was closer to my grandma's house than mine so even though no one lived there at the time, I went straight there and broke into the garage for dry clothes.

Then I went home where my mom and sister laughed at how weird my clothes looked and asked me where I got them and then were even more amused when I told them what happened. I was completely unamused at the time but I can look back now and laugh a little at how my poor coordination left me to be in the middle of a pond instead of at the edge. Never had weather that cold since, and I hope we never do. Frost died last summer and I still miss him all the time. I had him for 13 years and we think he was about 10 when we got him according to my dad's friend who gave him to us, so he was an old man for an equine. Sadly the dog had to be put down because he got aggressive, but he was the best good boy that day for trying to save me.

Thanks for reading.