4 minute read
A DRAMATIC BRUMBY RESCUE
At Save the Brumbies we received a frantic phone call earlier this year. Help please!!! A little Brumby filly was on the main road at Corindi NSW. Cars and trucks were piled up; horns tooting at her and the little one was so scared and frightened. A kind lady managed to coax the filly into her paddock which bordered the highway. Hence the phone call to us.
At STB we have no equipment for trapping Brumbies; this is done by either Local Land Services or NPWS and the horses are subsequently delivered to our New England Brumby Sanctuary at Armidale. As it was holiday time, LLS were not available to help so we were called. What to do ? Alas the paddock where the filly was now safe had no small yard or loading ramp and this was a wild Brumby!!! How to catch her and transport to our Bellingen Sanctuary, home for our horses in high level care was, to say the least, a major headache particularly as the lady’s geldings were certainly not impressed with their new neighbor and had to be locked away for safety all round. It took several weeks before we were able to locate an angle load float that would be safe enough for the little one to travel in.
Meanwhile the filly had been encouraged to come for hay by her kind savior and had settled quite well. Our Committee member Yvonne Hicks kindly offered her angle load float and armed with hay, sight tape etc. we made the journey to Corindi to attempt to load the filly. We were all very apprehensive about the outcome and expected to spend many exhausting hours trying to load her. What a delightful surprise!!! We parked the float at the gate; erected sighter tape either side and let the ramp down. We were told to stand back, well out of the way and within fifteen minutes her temporary ‘Mum’ had the filly up to the ramp with hay and with a few pauses this wild Brumby walked straight up onto the float!!! Amazing; safely locked in and we commenced the journey home. Our little one travelled well, no stress apparent and was soon safe in a small yard where she could meet her new family of horses.
It wasn’t long before we were able to turn her out with our resident nanny mare to relax and check out her new home. A few injuries were apparent, no doubt from running through barbed wire fences but not serious and now well healed. Of course our new arrival had to have a name. Due to her traumatic experience we settled on STB Little Miss Toot Toot, very appropriate!!! So our new arrival is happy and safe at last; she is a delightful youngster, inquisitive and curious, already coming up eagerly for cuddles and a few carrots, not to mention her nutritious feeding routine.
We do what our name says, we Save the Brumbies in a practical, hands on way and are currently working closely with Grafton Local Land Services to take as many as possible this year as the horses in these areas are causing havoc on properties, going through fences and as in Tootie’s case, getting onto roads and posing a serious risk to motorists and also themselves. We urge all horse lovers to check out our website: www.savethebrumbies.org and also our Facebook page: New England Brumby Sanctuary and see the quality of these lovely horses for themselves. We need to find caring homes for so many right now; if we can’t take them it’s bullets and nobody wants that result. Our horses are well handled, colts gelded, all are microchipped and vetted before placement and are also registered with the Australian Brumby Horse Register. As the Corindi/Grafton Brumbies have been used to seeing people we find that they are quiet and easy to handle; we have mares with dear little foals at foot also available. Conditions do apply however the right, caring home is our first priority. Finally if anyone is interested in taking a small group themselves do contact Local Land Services, Grafton. So horse lovers unite, help us to Save the Brumbies, you won’t be disappointed.
Jan Carter President STB Inc.
