Moruya and Bodalla rescue teams work to get Ted the miniature pony out of the hole. Photos: Fire and Rescue Moruya.
Fires, accidents – even rescuing cats from trees, it’s all in a day’s work for members of Fire and Rescue Moruya – digging miniature ponies out of holes, not so much.
On Tuesday, the call came through to the Moruya station from police that Ted the miniature pony had got himself stuck in what they believed was a 1.5-metre hole dug for a retaining wall on a property just to the north of Bodalla.
Moruya Fire and Rescue captain Mark Gould said members of his team, with help from Bodalla Rural Fire Service, along with a vet, headed to the property.
Somehow, Ted had got himself into the hole – all that was visible was his head and two front legs, almost like he was standing up.
Ted the miniature pony gets the once-over from his rescuers after being lifted out of the hole.
The rescue teams and vet discussed the best and safest way to get the miniature pony out.
“We reckoned the best idea was to dig a trench next to him because we couldn’t pull him out without stressing him too much,” Captain Gould said. “Also because he was a fat little bugger. I reckon he could have weighed between 100 and 140 kg.
“So we got to work with shovels. Someone did suggest seeing if we could get a tractor but we didn’t want to spook the horse too much. So we dug a large trench to get access to his legs and used straps to secure him.
“It looked like somehow he had fallen in rear first and jammed himself into the retaining wall hole.”
Captain Gould said the straps worked to get Ted out, the whole process only taking the rescue teams about an hour. They used shovels and crowbars to dig the trench, while others sat with the horse trying to keep him calm.
“He was pretty good while he was in the hole,” Captain Gould said, “pretty placid really which was surprising considering what he’d got himself into.
“Towards the end of the process, when we’d worked out the best way to lift him, the vet gave him some sedation.”
After rescuing him from a hole, Ted poses with the rescuers from Moruya and Bodalla who saved him.
Captain Gould said eight members from his team, half a dozen from Bodalla and a vet were involved in the rescue.
“We hadn’t done a horse rescue before,” he said, “only cats. But we’d been working with the SES so had done all the training.”
When Ted was finally rescued, he was ready to take off, but the rescuers wanted to keep him calm so the vet could check for injuries. Miraculously, he had none.
“He wanted to get up straight away but we kept him lying down so he could get the once-over. But he was OK.
“His owner had been understandably upset by what happened, so she was very happy to see how it all worked out.”
Posting her thanks on Facebook on Wednesday, a spokeshuman for Ted wrote: “I can’t thank you guys enough for rescuing our Ted yesterday. You really are a bunch of legends. Our community is really lucky.”
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