MUD! My Horriffic Experience

A few months ago, my friend, Vanessa, and I went on an outride and we started to head home at about four. On the way we rode over a large patch of grass, much the same as all the other grass in the area. All of a sudden, the ground began to sway and wobble like waves. We thought it was an earthquake! The horse my friend was riding, Star, ran left and the horse I was riding, Stage, galloped forward in a panic, before we knew it, Stage was upto his stomach in thick black mud. I immediately jumped off and pulled his reins, thinking he would be able to climb out. (Vanessa and star managed to get to safety before they sank). The more I pulled, the more he struggled and the deeper he went. By this stage I was in a state of utter PANIC. I was screaming at him to come forward because he was quite close to hard ground. He kept trying but it was useless and he was exhausted. He was now up to his neck and he had stopped struggling. Vanessa got onto Star and galloped home as fast as she could over tar road and fields to fetch the horses's owners, Lynn and Trevor.

In the half an hour it took them to arrive, I had been waiting with Stage, holding his head in my arms. He had given up trying and I was worried that his head would go under. It was also scary to be sitting by myself in the middle of a deserted field. As soon as Lynn saw Stage, she phoned the Sandton Crisis Center, who then phoned the 4x4 rescue team. She also phoned the vet and in the meantime Trevor tried to drive his car up the bank that went to the "field". He couldn't get it up and there was no other entrance. We then tried to get a rope around him and now Stage had started struggling again and his body was totally submerged exept 2 front hooves and his head. Eventually, the vet arrived and sedated him. We could do nothing more untill the rescue team arrived. It was a horrible wait. I just sat, covered in mud, with Stage.

It was getting dark when the 4x4's arrived. For about an hour they tried to pull him out by tying the rope that was around his neck to the trucks and pulling. Eventually they dragged him out and he stood up, but when he saw the headlights and all the people he reared up and went straight back in. It was such a relief to see him get out but devastating to see him go back in. The vet then informed us that due to the struggle, he thought that Stage had broken his back and would have to be put down. He said that the way his leg was positioned looked very bad and was a sign of a broken back. It was at that point when I totally broke down and had to go sit in the car praying that he'd be okay. I was very doubtful that he would be. Stage was now too deep to get a rope around him, so in the darkness and dirt, the rescue team resorted to tieing the rope around his front foot. It was our last chance. They pulled with the truck and gradually they got him onto hard ground again. This time he didn't get up or move. He had lost all will to fight. It took six men to push him up and much to our relief, he stood-- his back was not broken, but we didn't get too excited. He might have gone back in. Trevor held Stage by the remainders of his bridle whilst the vet used a whip to make him go forward and not back again. Stage started to pull back but with some slaps with the whip we managed to get him to go forwards. He was out! Trevor lead him to the road-- He could walk. It was a MIRACLE! The vet was amazed and thought that he would never have made it.With mud from the tip of his tail to the tip of his muzzle, he walked home whilst we all followed in cars behind him, in silence.

By half past nine we had finished washing him down, and the vet had given him a thorough check up. He ate his dinner with gusto, as did Star who, until now, had been tied by his reins to a fence, from when Vanessa had come for help. The vet told us that he needed just a weeks holiday and that we were very fortunate to still have him with us. Before going home, we went to look for the saddle. We found it, unidentifiable, coated in mud and crunched. After lots of saddle soap, dubbin and hard work, we got it clean and it too survived the ordeal (Exept for a missing stirrup.) I gave Stage two weeks rest to make sure that he was okay. He had a few scratches, and he was understandably sore in the week after the accident but now he is back to his normal self and I am so grateful that he is still alive!