Amid a scary situation in B.C.’s Lower Nicola region earlier this week, the community stepped up to help.
A herd of horses, stuck in fast-moving floodwater for up to 12 hours overnight, needed rescuing.
“We’ve always had a little bit of flooding in our pastures, but nothing like this,” said owners Connie Joe and Jerry McCauley.
“When we got there, it was shocking at first. Then, when we saw our horses out there, in the middle of what looked like a lake, standing all huddled together, I felt we needed to help them.”
The pair, who live near the Nicola Ranch on Highway 5A, outside Merritt, received a call about their horses around 5 a.m. on Monday.
“People just showed up — people from the community, friends, family all showed up. They stayed with us all day, basically in the pouring rain. It never stopped raining at all, and they just stayed right until the bitter end,” Connie Joe said.
Hank Chillihitzia jumped into a motorboat to try and get the horses moving at first — a difficult task with rushing water.
“Right where the water was mainly going down, it was at least 60 kilometres an hour. I can’t even tell you. It was going by so fast,” Chillihitzia said.
“Once we hit (the fast-flowing water), we were gone. We couldn’t turn until the horses started moving to separate the current.”
Chillihitzia, who loves horses, said he wasn’t going to stop until they were safe.
“My heart would’ve been shattered into pieces if we lost one horse,” he said. “My throat was knotted up all day. I was tired, cold, hungry, thirsty, but I wasn’t going to have anything to eat until (they) were on dry land.”
Finally, the horses got moving and up out of the water. All 29 horses were accounted for and are doing well.
“Obviously, we gave them hay yesterday before we left and we went out and gave them some more today,” Connie Joe said.
“They were themselves. They always come around looking for their snacks or goodies, and they were all around us. Some of them looked tired. A couple of them were laying down.”
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