KEY POINTS:
Animal lovers are calling for a total ban on the sale of fireworks after the suspected drowning of a champion horse - which its owner believes was caused by sky rockets aimed into her paddock.
Ten-year-old part-thoroughbred mare Savannah, last year's winner in the novice section of the
New Zealand Mounted Games Championship, disappeared from her Helensville paddock just before Guy Fawkes weekend.
Margaret Welsby, who was leasing the champion horse, said she heard fireworks nearby, the night Savannah disappeared.
Spent rockets were found in her paddock, apparently having been fired from across the Kaipara river.
Welsby and owner Gwen Mazonis fear the horse may have been struck by one of the rockets, causing her to panic and run into the tidal river.
Both women are devastated by the horse's disappearance. Savannah was a regular mount for three times world champion rider Christian Jones and was due to be shipped to Australia next year to be ridden in the Mounted Games World Championships there.
Welsby, the New Zealand Mounted Games team coach, said Savannah was worth up to $10,000 here - but in Europe she would be valued at closer to $80,000.
Mounted Games is an equestrian "extreme" sport involving high-speed manoeuvres by both horses and riders, sometimes involving obstacle courses. Horses are prized for their speed and agility around the course.
"I'm just gutted," said Welsby, struggling to hold back her tears. "My biggest fear is she swam up and down the river until she died. It's a really dangerous river. The whole family hasn't slept since it happened."
Mazonis described Savannah as her "baby".
"It's horrible. I don't know where she is and I'm expecting the worst.
"The tide is very strong. If she went in there she wouldn't be able to fight against it. I think she was hit by a firework. That's the only thing that would make her panic that way."
The pair suspect the fireworks were either bought illegally, before the official Guy Fawkes time period, or were "leftovers" from last year. They have launched a huge hunt for the missing horse, searching the riverbanks on foot and the river itself with a speed boat. They have also alerted neighbouring farmers, commercial boat operators and the police and have put up posters all around Helensville.
They are hoping Savannah may have managed to get out of the river somewhere and is still alive. They have all but discounted the possibility of theft because of the inaccessibility of the horse's paddock.
Welsby said the only way to keep horses safe was to ban fireworks completely, limiting them to organised displays on barges.
Bob Kerridge from the SPCA said he received regular reports of horses being panicked by fireworks.
Kerridge said it was possible for a horse to be so scared it would run into a river. "Horses do spook very, very easily. It's feasible that in a blind panic an animal will do something it normally wouldn't do. I've heard [last] week of a dog which went smashing through a glass window. In a panic the normal senses don't apply."
The SPCA has, for the past 20 years, advocated a total ban on the sale of fireworks.
