Fryerstown CFA volunteers and local community members joined forces on Sunday to rescue a three-year-old horse from a ravine at Glenluce.
The owner of ‘Surprise’, as she is aptly named, alerted Castlemaine SES about the incident about 2pm when the bay filly was discovered in a hole that leads to the entrance of an abandoned mineshaft. However, as the SES are no longer permitted to undertake large animal rescues due to safety concerns for volunteers, local fire brigade volunteers rallied to do whatever they could to assist.
The horse’s owner said it appeared young Surprise had fallen a few metres down into the ravine and became entangled in blackberries and barbed wire.
Fortunately the young mount remained calm throughout the experience and her owner was able to safely cut away the barbed wire from her legs.
“Luckily there was an opening on one side and volunteers were able to cut back the blackberries and some tree branches and create a path to safely walk her out of her predicament. Amazingly she escaped from the ordeal with a couple of minor scratches!” she said.
The owner said she was extremely relieved and deeply grateful to all those who assisted with the rescue.
“It really highlighted the need for our wonderful local CFA personnel to receive training in large animal rescue. “We are extremely lucky that things weren’t worse, we were able to gain access to her safely and free her,” she said.
