Aussie Horse Hero Who Sheltered Pasturemates from Fire Nominated for Bravery Award

by Fran Jurga | 18 September 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Retired Australian police drum horse Paddy with his officer/owner.

Maybe you'd better grab a tissue before you read this post.

A retired police horse from Australia named Paddy has been nominated for the RSPCA's Purple Cross award, which is given to animals who exhibit behavior that we humans would interpret as "courage".

I hope you will follow the link to the story and read it in its entirety, but this is it in a nutshell: a retired 19-year-old Clydesdale police horse is out in the paddock as the horrific "Black Saturday" wildfires threaten his owner's property in the state of Victoria.

The owner, a policeman, is busy hosing down his house. Paddy, meanwhile, rounds up the sheep and goats in the paddock (which in Australia is what we'd call a pasture and can be many acres), and shelters them from the fire and heat under his huge frame.

Every once in a while, the owner comes down to the paddock and hoses Paddy down and makes sure he is all right. He said afterwards that Paddy never moved despite the embers falling from the sky and the wind roaring up the valley.

When the small animals try to go astray, Paddy rounds them up and nudges them back under the shelter of his huge body.

And so the fires passed.

In his owner's words: "He stood there and did what I asked him. If you can have that sort of communication, all the big parades and the big accolades we've had as gendarme can't compare to that because that was when the chips were really down. I asked him to do something and he said, righto, I'll do that. And that's what he did."

So Paddy was nominated for the RSPCA's prestigious award.

Sadly, news reports from Australia today tell us that Paddy stumbled and fell on Tuesday while out for a hack and was euthanized.

Please click here to read the moving story about Paddy, which was written before his untimely death.

The Purple Cross originated with the Purple Cross Society, which was formed to support the horses of Australia's famed Light Horse Brigade. If you are interested in horse history, there is no better reading than the exploits of this brave crew of horsemen, particularly during their Middle Eastern campaign during World War I, including the battles at Beersheeba and Gallipoli. Their story is marred by tragic suffering and loss and decorated with gallantry and superior horsemanship.

Also of historic interest: Paddy served as a ceremonial drum horse with the Victoria Police in Melbourne. The use of mounted police in that city dates back to 1836, making it even older than the late, great Boston mounted police in the USA, which was recently shuttered by city budget cuts so that Ted Kennedy's funeral had no horse escorts.

Hold a Thought for California Horses in the Fire's Path

by Fran Jurga | 30 August 2009 | The Jurga Report

This blog publishes a lot of advice and safety information about disasters and evacuation. My heart sinks every time an emergency situation affects horses and I wonder how well prepared people are.

That's the case today, with the California wildfires blazing in the hills outside Los Angeles. Tragically, two firefighters have been killed, caught in a fireball as they tried to escape.

Of course horse owners have been complying with evacuation orders. The Los Angeles Equestrian Center at Griffith Park was full by Saturday, and the latest order has horses being sent to Pierce College in Woodland Hills, which also hosted evacuee equines in 2007.

But my heart broke when I saw this image today in a gallery of startling fire images on the Charlotte Observor web site. The caption says that this two-year-old had not been trained to load onto a trailer so he was being pickup-ponied to safety. One can only wonder how many miles this horse had to travel and what shape his feet might have been in at the end of his journey. A horse trailer ramp might look pretty good after a few miles. With luck he had some protection for his hooves.

People are doing what they can for horses to get them out of the fire's path.

As of last night, this fire was only 5 percent contained. The area is particularly popular with horse owners. Rainbow Ranch, which is home to 60 horses, and the non-profit Animal Acres are two of the many horse facilities under evacuation orders. Animal Acres put out a call yesterday with a wish list for help: Trucks, trailers, pickup trucks with camper shells (for the birds), carriers for the birds (chickens, turkeys, etc.), large water bowls, people good with herding, animal soothers, bedding, food, water hoses. That's a pretty good list of priorities during a disaster, assuming they have some veterinary expertise and fresh water available as well. Animal shelters and rescue farms generally are not easy to move, and many animals in their care have special needs.

Make-Yourself-Watch-It Video: Veterinary Heroes of Australia's "Black Saturday" Bush Fires

by Fran Jurga | 7 April 2009 | The Jurga Report

The last time I checked,we're in a lull between disasters here in the United States, except possibly for the Alaskan volcano causing a lot of respiratory sensitivity in horses. Hopefully, not too many horses were affected by the earthquake in Italy.

But if I log onto Twitter, I'm sure to find that something has gone wrong somewhere.

I have hoarded these two videos from Australia, and waited to post them now because we all know that the spring fire season and the winds will be starting soon, and it's good to have some sobering reminders of how bad things can get.

But on another level, veterinarians have been taking a bashing lately on many fronts.(Have you read the blog "badvetsdaily.com"? Now there's someone with an ax to grind!) There's nothing like a disaster to bring out the good vets...or maybe it's to bring the good out in every vet.





Meet Australia's Drs. John Butler, who lost his house to the fire, but not his will to help animals, and Judith Mulholland, who drove from afar to help out however she can during the crisis.



Dr. Jude made this mini-documentary soon after the February 22nd disastrous wildfire ripped through a once horse-happy suburb of Melbourne. Click here to visit her terrific website.



Finally, here's a horse owner re-united with what looks like an Arabian stallion in pretty good shape. The owner seems somewhat in shock still that her horse is in such good shape, while so many others are dead. She is a very lucky woman.

For Australia to have suffered the terrible insult of the equine influenza epidemic last year that shut down racing and showing and breeding, as well as a terrible drought and now to have this disaster to overcome, is quite a burden.

The economy is not any better there than it is here, but the people have surely shown us what strength of spirit and love for animals is all about.

No One Ever Expects a Forest Fire: What's Your Plan?

I noticed today as I was driving that the undergrowth is filling in the landscape around here. The trees are leaved out, and the “brush” understory is now making it more difficult to see as far as I could a few weeks ago. Spring is making progress…or is it?

Along with the joy of spring weather after winter comes the heat of summer. And heat means danger of fire.

We hear a lot about grass management in pastures, but not much about managing trees and bushes. We all believe that a pasture for horses should have shade from the sun, but what if that big lone tree is also a lightning magnet? And what if that brushy scrubby line that gives your pasture privacy from the road also becomes a tinder line for a forest fire?

Every year, it’s a good idea to re-evaluate your property and run through some “what if” scenarios. One of the most important is where and how you park your truck and trailer, and what you have in it. Whether you need to evacuate from a fire or get a colic-stricken horse to the vet in the middle of the night, your trailer is your most important tool. But if you can’t see to hook it up after dark, or it is blocked in by farm equipment or cavaletti, you need to think of a new plan.

All horse owners would benefit from learning more about forest fires and how they work. Today the University of California at Davis published a guide to forest fire information from key members of the University’s faculty, and it has great information and also links to other documents about fires.

Among the experts consulted was Dr. John Madigan, a UC Davis authority on equine and emergency veterinary medicine. He urges horse owners to first clear brush at least 30 feet from barns and corrals. (That's Dr. Madigan in the photo.)

Among other tips from Dr. Madigan:
Trucks and trailers should be kept nearby and operational in case animals need to be evacuated, and an alternate exit by foot should be mapped out in case roads are blocked by fire.

Stalls and doors should be closed after evacuation to prevent fire-panicked horses from running back inside.

A community-based emergency evacuation plan for horses is essential. Horse owner groups should work with local animal control and fire departments to develop a plan and a list of horse hauling resources and sites to take horses to safety rapidly. A practice drill should be conducted early in the fire season.

A veterinarian should examine any horse burned or exposed to heavy smoke, and owners should not apply any topical treatments to burns.

Photographs and written descriptions of all horses should be kept in a bank safe-deposit box to help identify animals that become lost or separated during a fire.

Dr. Madigan didn’t mention it, but I’m sure that barn aisle clutter is something that those of us in the real world are acutely aware of, while people who dwell in clinics and breeding farms are not. All those tack trunks, blanket hangers and “stuff” like wheelbarrows in the aisles makes evacuating horses in the dark (the power is sure to be out if you need to evacuate) a challenge and a danger.

Sure, you’ve heard it all before..but maybe this is the year you’ll get organized.

Now, where did I put those flashlights…