By KATH GANNAWAY
AN INJURED mountain bike rider was being taken out of bush in a stretcher in Warburton on Saturday 14 December, when emergency services got a second call to a woman who was trapped under a horse at Yarra Junction.
Upper Yarra SES and paramedics attended the Warburton bike incident on a steep track near La La Falls about 1pm with a cyclist in his 30s seriously injured when he came off his bike.
The SES volunteers were met by friends of the injured rider who guided them up a near vertical track for about a kilometre to get a stretcher to where paramedics were treating him.
SES spokesman Russell Wulf said he was in a lot of pain and with suspected spinal injuries it was a difficult and delicate manoeuvre onto the stretcher, and carrying him down the track to the waiting ambulance.
He said they had made it about 500 metres down the track when their pagers went off again with ‘emergency – person trapped under a horse’.
“We left five members there and three of us made our way to where the woman was trapped,” Mr Wulf said.
He said the woman, whose young son was watching, had been riding the horse on a flat paddock at a slow walk when it suddenly and inexplicably collapsed, falling on her and trapping her with its full body weight on one of her legs.
“She was on her belly and her leg was stuck from the knee back with her foot almost to the other side of the horse, so she was well and truly pinned under this huge weight,” he said.
Mr Wulf said emergency services, including the SES team, Yarra Junction police, paramedics and Yarra Junction and Hillcrest CFA volunteers were involved in the rescue with the woman in a lot of pain and the horse alive, but bleeding profusely from the nose and not responding.
As they tried to work out the best way to release her, their chance came when the horse lunged unexpectedly and tried to get up.
“We rushed in and pulled the woman free,” Mr Wulf said.
“We were very lucky, and so was she. If the horse had rolled over, which they can do when they’re in pain and trying to get up, she would have been in a lot more trouble.”
An ambulance spokesperson said the bike rider was flown by air ambulance to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition having suffered possible spinal injuries.
The woman suffered leg injuries and was taken by ambulance to Maroondah Hospital in a stable condition.
Seville vet Dr Andrew Witting said there are any number of reasons the horse may have started to behave strangely and collapse.
He said the critical injury however would have come from the horse hitting the ground very hard.
Unfortunately the injury led to it being euthanased.
Crisis-mas for emergencies
IN THE odd parallel universes of veterinary and emergency services, it seems Christmas, rather than being a time of rest for SES volunteers and veterinarians is busier than usual.
The Upper Yarra SES has had three rescues in December with spokesman Russell Wulf noting the warmer weather is a time people get out and about, including activities such as bushwalking and bike riding, which can lead to mishaps.
Mother Nature also seems to have a bad sense of timing (or a sick sense of humour) with SES volunteers out on Christmas Eve last year clearing up after the valley got lashed with storms.
That’s not unusual, according to Mr Wulf.
Seville vet Dr Andrew Witting said Christmas Day was a big one for horse emergencies.
“We get lots of nasty accidents on Christmas Day,” he said rating it as their busiest for colic and injuries such as broken legs.
“You get people looking for something to do and the horse will get fed where it doesn’t normally, or there is extra social interaction, more attention given, and the other horses get jealous and beat it up,” he said.
It’s all down to human behaviour. From the SES the advice is for walkers to be prepared when they go into the bush.
They should let someone know exactly where they’re going, take food and water along with them (not in the car) and stick to tracks.
From Dr Witting – owners should not indulge their horse on Christmas Day.
They don’t know it’s Christmas Day. Owners are not doing them any favours and they’re not doing the local vet any favours either!
