By JESSE GRAHAM
Mail captures the joy as missing horse is reunited with owner…
THIS was the moment, as captured by the Mail, when missing horse Missy was reunited with her loving owner Gladys Ramsay after her six day ordeal.
Ms Ramsay burst into tears, and the search group burst into cheers, as the mare was led out of the Toolangi State Forest on Friday morning by horseman Michael Whitehead.
Feeding Missy some hard-earned carrots, Ms Ramsay said she was astonished that Missy appeared to have few visible injuries and appeared to be in good health and good spirits.
“I’m astonished,” she said.
“It’s been a long time, nearly a week, and she had a very bad fall.
“She’s obviously a tough little girl.”
Ms Ramsay’s partner, Robert Finn, had been co-ordinating the search effort and said that he was overwhelmed and ecstatic with the horse’s return, after she went missing in the forest on Saturday 12 October.
“I’m so happy, I could cry,” he said.
It was Mr Whitehead, a Beveridge resident, who found Missy, after spending a day and night in the forest tracking her down – he said he found her tracks, shortly before finding her standing in a stream.
The campaign to find the missing horse swelled dramatically over the six days following her disappearance, with over 1300 people liking the Find Toolangi Missy Facebook page and dozens of people assisting in the ground-search.
The social media campaign saw fliers posted on cars around the Yarra Valley and an inundation of calls to Mr Finn, offering advice and assistance to recover the horse.
Mr Whithead took two days off from work and travelled down to the area after hearing the news from a friend, and said he was happy to have returned Missy to her grateful owner.
“I came here to find a horse and I found her – I’m very happy,” he said.
Mr Finn said the horse had taken off into the bush after he and Ms Ramsay had gone for a ride from Donnelley’s Weir on their horses and come across a fallen tree on the 11 track.
As the pair surveyed the trees, Mr Finn’s horse and pack horse ran back down the path, and when Mr Finn attempted to mount Missy to follow, the pair fell over the edge of the path.
Mr Finn was not injured in the fall and said that the still-saddled and bridled horse took off into the bushes.
In the aftermath of Missy’s disappearance, Mr Finn said there had been an overwhelming community response, with numerous calls offering a helping hand or some advice.
“Thank you everybody for your support – it’s mind-blowing how people can team together on something like this, it’s just great.”
Ms Ramsay said that Missy would be receiving some rest and simple food over the next few days, and that she would get a masseur and a vet to determine if Missy had any injuries or illnesses from her stay in the forest.
