The Earaheedy Rescue - Part Two

Sheila's Diary

Dr Sheila Greenwell is a founding member of the OHHAWA - now a Committee member, veterinary advisor and the unofficial head of our rescue team. What follows is her diary of the first Earaheedy rescue, along with a brief bit of history on the woman herself...

Sheila Greenwell arrived in Australia from Scotland some sixteen years ago, one of the first women to qualify as a veterinary surgeon from Edinburgh University. She moved to Margaret River in south west Western Australia not long after her arrival and fell in love with the place and the local residents. She’s been there ever since.

Sheila is a bit of an enigma – a slender, smiling, waif-like individual with the strength of a lioness, she will happily leap into a pen with an angry bull, rearing stallion or snarling dog, but show her a spider or speak highly of her in public and she’ll run a mile. She is a fine horse rider, a skilled horse trainer and generous to a fault. When fellow vet Dr Paul Wynne-Houchin offered her the chance to invest her money in the financial black hole of the almost impossible task of rescuing a bunch of drought starved wild horses from a station roughly the same size as her country of origin, with all the inherent risks and almost no chance of ever seeing her money again, Sheila – naturally – leapt at the chance.

Extracts

Around March 2005, after spending many more months trying to raise money (spectacularly unsuccessful), find infrastructure, locate trucks, hay and people to take on the horses if in fact they managed to rescue any, Sheila and Paul returned to Earaheedy to carry out their great plan. They had managed to secure help from the stations, get vehicles, personal supplies, etc, although by the time they returned they still did not have a truck to get the horses back, nor any hay, nor any funds aside from their own…and it was summer, with the temperature up around forty degree plus in the shade. Sheila tells the next part of the story best, in her own words…

“…The journey up was uneventful if not hot and long. We decided not to use the air conditioning in the car so we could get acclimatised to the heat – blimy!! Kept sticking to the seat…and drinking water. I may add I am still doing both in great style.

Popped the swags on the dirt for the first night and lo and behold the lightning and thunder arrived and it rained – we ended up sleeping in the cab of the truck for part of the night. I pretended I was on a long haul flight and someone was bringing dinner around soon, and the movies were just about to start. Paul conked out with his head on the steering wheel and has had a crick in his neck ever since. The good thing is that it is so warm that stuff dries out quickly – with a nice even coating of red dust to boot.

Next day we went round the five remaining waterholes, a small one had dried up and there was a foal carcase in it, such a pity. Most of the holes have dead roos {kangaroos} in them. Roos dying in their hordes, even with water available, from heat exhaustion. Hard to imagine in an animal adapted to the climate, but they just can’t hack it poor loves. Horses and cattle seem to handle the heat quite well.

As a result of the dead roos, who also get munched by wild dogs at the waterholes, the water is putrid in 2 holes, marginal in 2 and almost ok in one called Ian’s dam where most of the horses are drinking – who can blame them.

{One of the major issues : because of the bad water, the horses had stopped being territorial and started moving the long distances between all six dams, drinking from where ever they could.}

So we have been camped for five days there to observe the comings and goings. The bush cover around the dams has been reduced a lot as it has been eaten down. I found a fairly thick prickly bush which provided good cover about 20m from the dam wall. I have spent literally hours in there… covered in flies which give me the shits no end! The flies are so noisy you can’t hear animals approaching. A stallion walked 8m past me and I didn’t hear him coming.

I have deduced that roos have lousy sight. They will sit next to you and if they can’t hear you or smell you they have no idea! The cattle, of which there are about 50, see and smell well, make a note of you, then carry on with what they were doing anyway. Thank gawd as there are some big bulls there and if they took exception you are done for, nowhere to run and no big trees to shoot up.

The horses see, smell and hear well, the most perceptive of the lot, their level of panic seems to vary greatly between individuals. The chunky stallion in the photos is hyperacute and tries to take his family off but they just dawdle which drives him nuts.

I have {so far} seen four family groups comprising of stallion and 2-3 mares and the youngsters. There is a group of 4 bachelor colts who are very flighty. Then the loners who are the cast offs, one poor old mare who lives alone with a young foal at foot. She came 10m from me and didn’t worry, even fell asleep facing away from me. I suspect her days are nearly over and she was kicked out, or couldn’t keep up, but happened to be pregnant at the time. Poor old sod, she is about 16hh and her foal will make a lot of height but has an umbilical hernia.

Then there is an old stallion just thin and beaten up. Have seen pictures of him but haven’t come across him yet.

Last but not least is a lone old stallion with the biggest tumour on the end of his willy. The whole affair hangs below his hocks and he has trouble walking, poor old soul. I saw him only once, we hope to dispatch him as it will be a slow end otherwise.

Our plan of trapping at the dams isn’t going to work, there are other holes they can drink from if they are desperate. We put pickets all around Ian’s dam which put most of them off so they went elsewhere, no wire I may add. The cattle just walked through them.

The baits didn’t work, no one was interested in salt, molasses or even Lucerne hay, eventually the cattle twigged on to the hay so it wouldn’t stay there long.

There is no way we can fence off 4 dams and trap at one as we would be cutting off a life support system for so many animals. I still can’t believe they are going to perish when it dries up. Unless there is enough rain to fill the claypans - if there is then we will have to abort the mission as the place turns to sticky mud and you can’t get a vehicle in.

So the plan is to explore the option of a plane and ground muster. The horses are in a restricted area due to water availability which helps, but the logistics are a horror due to the terrain. So we are back in civilisation (sort of) to see about some organising.

I wouldn’t call this a luxury holiday tour, the temp has averaged 43ºC most days with a 46ºC the other day, the flies are thick and noisy and the wind blows fire red dust into everything and everywhere. I wake up most mornings with a mouthful of grit, hair like a brillo pad and a water ration of 1 cup to sort it out! I have come to realise that water is the most precious thing on the planet – bugger the gold and diamonds.

So if we can muster the labour, hessian, and plane for an aerial effort then that is the plan. Not so ideal for the horses but the topography and small group numbers have beaten us.

So what have I learnt about wild horses - the stallion always leads, the rest of the family usually follow in the same order, his #1 mare is second, then the kids, then another mare at the back if he has one. He drinks first then stands guard when the others are drinking, then he leads them away. They never drink at the same time as cattle, one or the other hangs back and waits until they are finished, very polite stuff.

Roos take ages to drink and only come in at morning and night, horses come in at any old time, including the middle of the night and not at the same time each day either. Cattle stand in the water, horses hate getting their feet wet! Front feet toes and no more if it can be avoided.

I haven’t mentioned colour of horses yet, there are four stallions with families, three are white and the other is such a dark grey that he looks black, but he has a striking white face. He is a young fellow and has some height about him. If we get them all I would bring him and the chunky bloke in the photo back, the other stations around here are horse friendly so I might persuade them to take the other boys to introduce genetic diversity in their small mobs. No one uses their resident horse mobs, but all are reluctant to get rid of them as there is sentimental attachment to the past, which is great for the horses.

There is a range of {what appeared to be} white buckskins with a lot of the youngsters transitioning that way. There is a pale fawn foal with a white mane and tail, goodness knows how that would turn out. The mob with the dark greys and light mane and tail – there are 5 that colour in the mob – I suspect our black colt came out of that lot.”

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Later update…a truck had been sourced and two experienced men to drive it, including the author’s husband…

“We now have a plane organised to do a muster and lots of help as there are cattle running there as well and they want them out – so the panel trap we set up will be multifunctional. We are waiting for the Hessian to arrive and then will go out and build the yard. I think it is our only hope to get them, at least they are clearly visible from the air being greys.

The action is scheduled for late next week the pilot being the clinching factor. If it rains before then we will have no chance, as the vehicles will be grounded. Meanwhile we are at the station being station hands. Helped to build a windmill yesterday which was close to hysterical, me being on the instructions book and the boys on the spanner – I think I would have been better off with the latter.

Better off before this lot doesn’t fit in the envelope. Hi to all down there, fingers crossed for next week. Cheers, roustabout, red dirt stained, mossy munched, hair like straw, Sheila.”

*** *** ***

Next letter received late March 2005, aerial muster plans well under way…

“Friday the day before the muster was a last minute panic to keep the hessian wings up – they were secured top middle and bottom and so acted as sails. The building of them had been an arduous task – Ross {Quartermaine}, Paul and I sweated for days in 40C + with seemingly millions of flies wanting to invade every available orifice!

Finally it was done and we headed back to the nearby station to get the machinery sorted. In the end we had four Suzuki jeeps and four bikes on the ground and the Cessna in the air. Just getting that lot to the site itself was a major task, a cavalcade of trucks and trailers and 4WD’s made their way to the campsite which was a 2hr drive off the “highway”. Most people camped the night before but some arrived early next morning. All our helpers were local and enthusiastic about the project. We would have had no hope without them as their knowledge of the bush and geography of the area was irreplaceable.

Ross went up in the air with our intrepid pilot. They were acting as spotters and relaying messages to the boys on the ground as to where the horses were, and which direction they were heading in. Ross had lived on the station for most of his life so his knowledge of the ground was invaluable. He only made it through the morning, as despite being a pilot himself, a dose of airsickness had him keen to keep the feet on the ground in the afternoon.

Paul and I stayed at the yards but could hear of the progress via the radio, having mustered cattle together many times the boys made a great team. We had one female musterer, Norma, who did a great job.

It wasn’t too long before the first mob appeared and was yarded without any fuss. The wings worked well and the horses slowed down and settled quickly. The panic level seemed minimal which surprised me. We had built some small yards off the main one and so pushed the mob in to those whilst awaiting the new arrivals.

By lunch we had 8 in the yards the amount of damage to the horses was minimal but the vehicles had paid the price. Two windscreens had been kicked in as people got too close. They soon learned to back off!! Rex had 4 flat tyres by then but kept that pace up for the rest of the day!

In the afternoon I went up in the plane and had a scout about. The horses which had travelled a long way from water we left alone but managed to pick up some small groups nearer to base. The mob of 7 blacks with silver manes and tails were heading straight for the yards at one moment and the next had split in all directions and none were yarded. Going up in the plane made me realise that mobs which split seem to reform quite quickly they must use their sense of smell as these horses are so quiet, you never hear their voices other than a foal nickering for it’s mother.

By the time we had another couple in we decided it was time to quit. The heat was building up and our escapees were too far from the yards to run them back. We were happy with our catch, they seemed to be mostly mares. In retrospect they were the slowest either in foal or with foals at foot, hence easier to track and push along. All the fit 3-4 year olds could outstrip the ground crew no problems. The terrain is very difficult for the vehicles to move around and the horses soon worked that out.

We fed and watered them that night and they were very quiet in the yards. One big filly didn’t look well but we were just hoping she would drink. They seemed to accept the buckets ok.

In the morning we found one old mare dead. I had been watching her for days and knew something was wrong as she lived on her own and never went far from water. She had a 6 month old colt foal that was standing outside the yard in the morning so we popped him in. He was accepted by any mare and suckled off most of them and was finally adopted by the skinniest most tragic looking old mare you can imagine!

Another foal was outside the yard so it was reunited with its mother. I knew from the plane that they were both within 1km of the yards and would probably find their mothers but I was much happier once they were in.

Next was the trucking which was a bit of a nightmare as we had a single deck cattle truck with a steep loading ramp and a big step up at the top. Each animal required a different technique for loading it seemed. Conditions were far from ideal but with a combination of frontwards, backwards and rump ropes we finally made it. One old mare sat all her weight on the rump rope at the top to the ramp, then proceeded to eat leaves which had been knocked into the back of the truck on the way down. Meanwhile all the boys are going red in the face holding her up.

The journey back to the nearest station took two and a half hours and they travelled well, it turned out to be almost as big a job getting them off the truck. First on and off was the young colt, Pope who has all his wits about him and had a belly full of water and hay long before the last horses were unloaded. Our most reluctant mover was Violet who we had to reverse into the truck as she constantly kicked. She was the last to unload despite seeing all her friends drinking and eating only meters away!

Never having seen a trough before, a lot of the horses were trying to suck the damp earth underneath it, I had to tap a few chins up so they could see the water. They have been very reluctant to leave it ever since. After seeing the water they have been surviving on, I’m not surprised. They cleaned up all the hay that night and have been eating well since, a combination of oaten and lucerne hay, oats mixed through the hay with lucerne chaff and some supplements. They can’t believe that food is that easy to find as most are skin and bone. The drought has seen lots of animals camping near the waterholes where all the feed has been demolished so they had to walk further and further for feed.

Their behaviour in the yards has been interesting. The old battle scared stallion Rex has shown no interest in bossing the 3yo colt Pope who towers over him in height. Rex protects the mob and is wary of people but not been aggressive towards them. He has bitten and kicked at the poles in the loading race but directed nothing towards people.

The mob always puts the 3 foals in the middle if they think danger is approaching. The two dark foals seem to cross suckle with any mare whereas Kerry Lynn the buckskin is happy hanging with her mum. They are all enjoying the new feed as well.

We rested them for six days to build up some strength for the journey south. During that time the truck arrived and we parked it in situ with a food trail up the ramp. Before long the horses were going up and down the ramp comfortably and some even went in the truck. The furious eating pace was maintained, our skinniest mare, Spider hasn’t stopped eating for one moment since being caught. I haven’t seen her sleeping as she obviously considers that a waste of good eating time.

Eventually the day came to leave and we approached the yards early in the morning not knowing how long the loading process would take this time. We were pleasantly surprised when it only took 20 mins with very little fuss involved.

The journey south was long but uneventful all the horses travelled well. Goodness knows what they thought about the sights in Perth (they had to travel through the city outskirts), but there was remarkably little movement in the back. We had one overnight stop on the way and this time all the horses loaded in 5 minutes with very little human intervention.

They are now safely tucked away on the Watson’s farm, eating continuously and absorbing new sights and sounds with great interest.

List of all horses:

Rex – mature white stallion (resultant age - approx. 30 yrs)
Pope – approx 3 yo colt, grey with black mane and tail
Norma – yearling filly - chestnut greying out

Six to eight month old foals:

Giselle – brown filly (orphan)
Sydney – black colt (orphan)
Kerry Lynn – buckskin filly (Margaret's filly)

Mares – grey with (some) black manes and tails, various ages as yet undetermined:

Lorna (resultant age - 6 yrs)
Margaret (resultant age - 7/8 yrs, Lorna's half sister)
Ruth (resultant age - approx 25 yrs)
Spider (approx. 7 yrs...sadly Spider died 2 wks after arrival)
Violet (resultant age - 5/6 yrs)

Our smallest horse is Rex who is approx 15hh and our tallest is Margaret at approx 16.3hh I feel the youngsters will all mature approx 16hh now that the food has improved.

The horses now have six weeks of rest and recuperation before the gentling process starts. I suspect they will be unrecognisable by then judging by their short term weight gain! Watch this space.”

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The Earaheedy project - really the project that started the OHHAWA - went on to receive a fair amount of media attention and Sheila, unaccustomed as she was to public speaking, aquitted herself creditably on WA's ABC Stateline programme, several radio interviews, Hoofbeats magazine stories, public displays and subsequent meetings with the DEC and the RSPCA to discuss the issue of de-stocking and the resultant Memorandum of Understanding with the OHHAWA.

Photos at right of Sheila and Earaheedy Station rescue horses, photos taken during and after the first and second rescues {2005-2007}...thanks to Lynn, Ross, Katherine and Fran for use of photos.