Firefighters dodged almost every kick from a flailing trapped horse weighing nearly two-thirds of a ton before it was freed from its stall window at western Hennepin County ranch, officials said Monday.

The equine extrication Sunday afternoon at the 61-acre Horse Play Ranch in Corcoran took 30 to 45 minutes during a mission the firefighters were not trained to carry out, said Loretto Fire Chief Jeff Leuer, whose department serves a portion of the neighboring community.

The horse "was fine after it was extricated" from small opening roughly 5 feet from the ground.

As the four firefighters sized up how to go about the task, the horse "was frightened and scared," the chief said. "And it was in some pain. ... It was trying to free itself, but we were able to calm it down and get it extricated."

The firefighters removed one of the stall's walls and cut some of the metal bars to make the window larger to free the animal, the chief said.

Longtime ranch owner Mary Soligny said 15-year-old King was brought into the stall from the pasture for some rest "and he unexpectedly and quickly attempted to leap through the small feed window of his stall. ... Horses sometimes do this. We don't know why."

Soligny said a call from her daughter brought her to the stall, where she quickly realized she needed the Fire Department to the rescue because "I don't have the tools for this. I need strength, and I need numbers. He was definitely in peril because he had been stuck for an hour."

Upon rescue, Soligny said, "King was sweaty and had a small cut on his lip but otherwise good."

Leuer said one of his firefighters was minorly injured during the tricky assignment, went to the hospital for treatment and was soon released.

The horse inflicted the injury with a kick, "but I don't know if you want to put that in the paper" where it landed, the chief said. "We'll just say the groin area. He's recovering. He'll be fine."