General News
12 November, 2022
Back on four legs
A 16-HAND horse is back romping around the paddock after a dramatic early morning rescue. The horse had become stuck in a old miner’s hole on the outskirts of Inglewood last Wednesday when spotted by neighbour Deb Roberts about 7.15am on Christie...
A 16-HAND horse is back romping around the paddock after a dramatic early morning rescue.
The horse had become stuck in a old miner’s hole on the outskirts of Inglewood last Wednesday when spotted by neighbour Deb Roberts about 7.15am on Christie Road, while checking on horses for friends in adjoining paddocks.
Deb’s initial efforts to bring the horse out of the flood hole with a halter failed and she called Terry and Stephen Simons to help with the rescue with their excavator. “They arrived within half an hour and we spent another three hours before the horse was able to be lifted from the hole,” Deb said.
Terry said: “The horse was in water right up to the front shoulders. I was using the excavator and Stephen, my son, was holding the front legs up.
“We then started digging around the hole and without scaring the horse.
“At one stage she just layed her head there and I thought we had lost her..
“So we made the hole a bit bigger and she kicked once. Eventually we were able to lift her out with the excavator.”
Terry said the horse layed on the ground for a few minutes before coming to her feet. He believes the mining hole was shallow and not a shaft.
“If it was a shaft, I don’t think we would have saved her ... she seemed to have the hind legs resting on something while we were digging around the hole and attaching straps lift her out.”
“She was up and around in the paddock later in the day, not a cut on her, just a bit stiff in the rear,” Deb said.
“I kept rocking her during the rescue ... I have bred horses for years and have never had anything like this. It was amazing how quickly she recovered and found her legs. But I’m still keeping an eye on her for a few more days.”
Deb praised the efforts of Terry and Stephen.
“They were fantastic the way they worked with the horse for so long,” she said. “It was wonderful to watch and better still that the horse was rescued from the hole.”
Deb said the hole had now been filled and gates to the paddock locked to keep horses away from the ground that remained soft after floods.