Watch remarkable video of brave mare saving herd from severe flooding
Remarkable footage of a brave mare leading a herd to safety in serious flooding has gone viral on social media.
Torrential rain led to flash flooding in Auckland, New Zealand, last week.
The video, recorded on 7 March, shows the group of mares from Hololio Polo Club in Clevedon stranded in water up to their stomachs.
In the footage, the mares are tentatively walking through the water, led by a bay mare named “TD”.
TD bravely leads the group to safety through a gap in the fence, despite the fast-flow and barely visible gate opening due to the height of the water.
The video, shared by the polo club on Facebook, has been viewed more than 450,000 times and shared by more than 5,000 people.
Clever polo ponies.The wire fence was holding up here, invisible and dangerous under the water. Nick and a neighbour had earlier opened the gate with a rope tied around their waists for safety, but the horses were too nervous to go through the rushing water when they couldn't see the gap. Later, filmed here, the clever and brave lead mare led them through the narrow gate space (only metres from the very deep main river channel) and up to safety, even though she could not see the gate gap.For any licensing queries, please contact Ben at licensing@break.comPosted by Hololio Polo Club on Tuesday, March 7, 2017
“The wire fence was [still up], invisible and dangerous under the water,” said a spokesman for the polo club.
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“Nick [Jones] and a neighbour had earlier opened the gate with a rope tied around their waists for safety, but the horses were too nervous to go through the rushing water when they couldn’t see the gap.
“Later, the clever and brave lead mare led them through the narrow gate space — metres from the very deep main river channel — and up to safety, even though she could not see the gate gap.”
The mares can be seen reaching higher ground, where they immediately start grazing.
Yard co-owner Josephine Elworthy told local press TD has “always been a star”.
She added that the field the mares became stranded in is not normally prone to flooding.
Hololio Farm is a working polo club, riding school, and polo school, as well as the home of the New Zealand womens’ polo open.
Flooding elsewhere in New Zealand
Meanwhile, Horse of the Year Show (7-12 March) in Hastings, New Zealand, was subjected to torrential rain and flooding.
Around 3,000 people were staying in tents and trucks at the Hawke’s Bay showground.
Dressage and showing continued but other competitions were cancelled, including showjumping classes.
The mounted games was moved to the equestrian centre at Flaxmere.
Debbie Hendry and her daughters Georgia and Mari, part of the Canterbury New Zealand Mounted Games Association, were among those camping.
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Their site was surrounded by a sea of mud, but they remained upbeat.
“We’re pretty well set up, we didn’t get flooded out – games people are pretty hardy,” said Debbie.
“It’s obviously a dampener because we have to move to continue, but it’s our national champs and we need to complete it.”
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.