Excavator rescues ‘thankful’ ex-racehorse stuck in Taree flood mud for over ten hours

True blue Aussie ingenuity at its finest: Rescuers drove an excavator down a main street to upright an elderly ex-racehorse trapped in a flood affected, muddy paddock. See the video.

An elderly ex-racehorse thanked rescuers by following them and signalling for a pat after being trapped in flood-impacted mud for over ten hours while coiled in wire fencing.

“The horse was so happy in the end,” Taree Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA) operator Jason Harvey said.

“He even followed us for a pat to thank us”.

The rescue operation began when the Taree VRA received a call around 11.30am on Wednesday to rescue the 20-year-old horse that had been “down” — unable to stand up, from anywhere between 12 to 16 hours on soft muddy ground.

Rescuers were concerned the ex-racehorse might not withstand the operation to get it upright at Taree on Wednesday June 4, 2025 from a muddy paddock.

“It was quite a concern as you don’t want horses on the ground for too long.

“The longer they’re down the worse they become,” Mr Harvey said.

The first attempts to roll the horse failed due to the muddy conditions so Mr Harvey had to find something else to assist, but a lot of equipment was in use already in the flood clean up.

Special straps and slings for large animal rescues were attached to an excavator to rescue an old racehorse at Taree on Wednesday June 4, 2025.

Luckily, there was a business down the road and rescuers managed to get an excavator and drive it up a suburban street to the rescue site.

“We couldn’t drive any vehicles or cranes in there because we’d have gotten bogged,” Mr Harvey said.

The VRA assisted by a vet was able to get the elderly equine upright with specialist straps attached to the excavator.

“As it was an ex-racehorse it probably had extra strength built up over the years to make it resilient,” Mr Harvey said.

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Originally published as Excavator rescues ‘thankful’ ex-racehorse stuck in Taree flood mud for over ten hours