It took a backhoe and a team of rescuers to dig out Champ, the 1,200-pound horse from the mud on Thursday, where he had gone to quench his thrust but started sinking into it.

Champ, who has been sucked up to his belly by the time his owners discovered him in the morning, was completely tired from his efforts to get out. AP quotes Champ's owner Jeff Radabaugh as saying, "It was like quicksand out here. We dug until we couldn't dig anymore."

After much help from firefighters and neighbors and other volunteers, who tried to take buckets of mud out, Champ was eventually rescued with ropes and straps.