At 9 o’clock Valentine’s Day morning on his way to work, a worker saw a horse stuck in the pit of a septic tank. He hurried to notify his boss who immediately phoned and logged a call with our SPCA Control.
Theo and Tracy from our Horse Care Unit were urgently dispatched to assist.
A Horse Named Caramel
The local community had been trying to pull her out without any success. They told us her name was Caramel.
When we arrived, Caramel was an exhausted, dehydrated mare in shock. A local farmer who regularly helps us out, came to help with a front-end loader to help when we alerted him to the situation.
We eventually got her out of the septic pit at 10h00, about an hour after our control received the call.
We had to carry her into the horse-box as she was too exhausted to walk or even stand.
We brought her back to the SPCA where we immediately put her on a drip and medicated her while she was still lying in the horse-box.
Our vet was very worried about pneumonia as the likelihood of her having inhaled some of the contents of the pit in the septic tank was possible.
A strong-willed mare
After about an hour, we were relieved when Caramel stood up on her own in the horsebox.
Though her body temperature was worryingly still very low, her will to fight for survival and recovery was obvious and we were able to add another drip line to get more fluids into her.
Once the drips had finished giving her the fluids she needed, we rinsed her off and attended to multiple cuts and abrasions she had sustained while fighting to get out of the septic tank.
We then put her into one of our stables in our Horse Care Unit, and she immediately started to nibble on a handful of oat-hay.
Clearly a much-loved member of the community and especially by her family, Caramel’s owner stayed with her throughout the entire traumatic ordeal, willing her on to be strong.
Later in the afternoon the whole family came to visit her and give her kisses.
As the days went by she just got stronger and stronger, and it was a happy day recently when we bid Caramel a fond “farewell” as she set off back home at last.
We would like to give a special mention and sincere thanks to the outside private equine specialist vets who are always willing to help us.
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