Pony club seeks help after washout

Volunteers cleaning up the Otumoetai Te Puna Pony Club after flooding earlier this month. Photo: Brooke Harris.

The Otumoetai Te Puna Pony Club is seeking donations to help get them back on their feet after heavy rain caused the Wairoa River to flood their grounds.

A Givealittle page has been set up to raise funds to fix the grounds, including repairing and replacing gear, new fences, and repairing broken drains.

According to information on the page, club members responded to a Facebook message asking if anyone could check on the grazing horses at the grounds, due to some slight flooding.

Within 20 minutes, the horses were knee deep in water. The decision was made to evacuate the animals, rather than move them to higher ground. In another 20 minutes, the horses were chest deep in water, and a smaller pony was swimming.

Club member Brooke Harris says it was incredibly daunting to see the grounds inundated with water.

'Arriving over the brow of the hill and seeing our club's land completely underwater was just devastating. So much of what I had previously watched being built was now destroyed.”

Brooke, who set up the Givealittle page, says without the fast response of the members, they would have lost the lives of eight horses.

'All of the horses are now safe, but not uninjured. We had one that needed to stay two nights at Matamata Vets to assess a swollen hind leg, and the other seven have muscle damage due to the amount of swimming they had to endure in their rescue.”

Three storage sheds at the grounds – one for mowers/petrol, one for gear, and one for feed – also flooded. Petrol cans tipped over and leaked all over the grounds, and fences and cross country jumps were destroyed.

'The salt in the sea water is also of concern, as it would have damaged our soil.”

Brooke says the grounds will need to be re-sown as a result, as the club's main source of income is grazing.

Their goal is to raise at least $10,000, although any and all donations are welcome. To help, go to the club's Givealittle page.

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2 comments

I

Posted on 18-01-2018 17:38 | By Capt_Kaveman

think the council should pay compo for allowing a shed to be built on a flood plane, if the shed was 2 feet higher then at least the contents would be fine, as for the land future rain should wash most of it clean of salt, or at least the idiot that gave the consent for the shed be liable, its the same as the house opposite cheyne road at Oropi where since built floods about every 7-9 years but nothing is done to fix it


@ Capt_Kaveman

Posted on 19-01-2018 09:34 | By MISS ADVENTURE

If they were to really "fix" something or do something right the first time then they would all be out of a job before it started. You can seriously expect those who are self governing, self determination and self rewarding as paid by others to get their greasy mits out of the gravy train?


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