Meet Soxz. The six-year-old Clydesdale is an inquisitive beast.
He’s also lucky.
The horse was wandering through a farm in country Victoria on Tuesday when he stumbled on to wooden sleepers covering a disused well.
Soxz’s sheer weight forced the sleepers to collapse and sent the six-year-old stumbling more than five metres into the water below.
Fortunately, his owner heard the crash and discovered the gelding at the bottom of the well and raised the alarm with the RSPCA, the Country Fire Authority and a local vet all rushing to rescue the stricken horse.
The taskforce quickly went to work to sedate and was forced to use a crane to remove Soxz. Miraculously, he escaped without major injuries.
RSPCA Victoria Inspector Jeremy Dean says it was shocking to see how far the horse had fallen into the disused well.
“It took a lot of manpower to help him out of the sticky situation, including adequate sedation to ensure the process wasn’t overly stressful,” Mr Dean said.
“The rescue was a true team effort; the CFA, the Oscar-1 Emergency Response team and the local vet were incredible.”
“There was a huge amount of precision required to lift Soxz to safety using the winches and crane, generally seen used in mine rescues.
And to help, the RSPCA is helping cover the cost of the operation and is kicking in funds to subsidise the cost of Soxz’s recovery.
The six-year-old only suffered a few cuts and bruises from the incident.
