Family thanks many for help; Efforts to save horse unsuccessful.

UXBRIDGE - Wayne and Lois Tucker and their family from Ironshoe Farm, 106 Quaker Highway, want to thank the town fire and police departments and others for their unsuccessful efforts to save the family's 16-year-old draft horse, Alvin, who collapsed recently in a barn at the farm.

The 2,300-pound Percheron was found at about 8 a.m. in his stall in a position that would not allow him to get up. Town firefighters and police officers, along with people from the Massachusetts Equine Clinic, 75 Locust St., responded, working with volunteers and family members to take down the stall walls.

Despite the effort, Alvin was unable to stand, and an ambulance from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was summoned. The horse was taken to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton, where he died from internal...