Foal washed away in floods comes home – but thousands hit by ‘unimaginable devastation’

During the misery and destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand, one three-month-old foal who was washed away came home – but thousands of equestrians are still affected.

A national state of emergency was declared after the storm described as a “once in a century” disaster hit the north-eastern area of North Island on 12-13 February. Some areas were relatively unaffected at first, but were hit by flooding when rivers burst their banks.

Adele White, stud manager of New Zealand Performance Horses in Hawkes Bay, told H&H a storm was forecast but “I don’t think we expected as much ruin as we got”.

“It’s bizarre; some places were absolutely flattened but in our hose bay, the bottles of shampoo weren’t touched,” she said. “It’s like another world; like something you see in another country and think ‘Those poor people, how can I help them?’ We never thought it would happen to us.”

Adele returned from a show in South Island knowing from the forecast that she needed to “batten down the hatches”. The following day she moved as many horses as possible away from streams to areas that had never flooded before. But the next day, she could not get to her yard.

“Friends came down to help and they said the photos and videos don’t do it justice; you don’t realise how bad it is until you see it yourself,” she said.

Adele lost one foal and although the stables are still standing, the farm is under two metres of silt. But she said the local horse community has pulled together to help.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Friends, local people, the horse community have come in their droves. We were walking the mares and foals up the road and people were getting out of their cars to help.”

Adele has heard that one friend tied himself to a post to be able to hold on to and save his horses. Other friends were affected days later.

“She’s a hairdresser so they went to her salon above their big shed when the rivers burst,” Adele said. “They had no time; they could see the water coming so they let their ponies out. They had a mare and foal round the corner and they witnessed the foal being swept away. They rang and said ‘The foal’s gone’.”

But the next day, the foal was found two roads away, having been washed over fences, without a scratch.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Adele said. “The mare, Star, had a bad cut but it’s healing – and the other horses came back too. They’d watched them swimming, but when the floods receded, they came home. There needed to be some good stories in all the bad.”

Other good stories are the overwhelming donations; rugs worth about $40,000 (£20,600) have been bought to donate to affected horses, and “everything you can think of is streaming in”.

But more help is needed. Equestrian Sports New Zealand (ESNZ) has set up a relief fund.

“We are absolutely heartbroken for our community throughout the east coast of North Island, and we feel it’s time we come together to help,” a spokesman said. “ESNZ has today established a relief fund to help our two and four-legged friends who have been struck by unimaginable devastation from Cyclone Gabrielle. If you’d like to help with providing horse feed and veterinary support, as well as further support as and where it is needed, you now can. ESNZ will donate 100% of the proceeds to those on the ground in these regions who need our country’s support the most during this time.”

To donate, visit the ESNZ website

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