ice hole

noun, an open spot in a frozen body of water that presents a danger when crossing the ice; see also slush hole

“I was in a ice hole once with Tom, and that was in the Village. We went through, but I didn’t get wet or anything that time.”

“Oh gosh, isn’t that funny that I can’t remember the name of that horse. ‘Cause I was in an ice hole with that one too. But getting back to the fact that I was near drowned, was old Sam went through the ice. Sam was our horse. You know, out that way, we used to cross to the foot of West Street. And Sam went through an ice hole in the spring of the year.”

“Usually the ice around the ice hole could be a foot deep, but there’d be a big clear water. But anyway, we always carried a rope on the horse, on the sleigh, two ropes, one for each person. So Dad took the one rope, and I took the other to hold the horse’s head up and to get him out. ‘Cause you’d have to kind of play him out and then roll him out. But anyway he had the ropes on him, but the cake of ice that I was on broke off, and I went into the ice hole.”