Whangārei mum races to rescue Kamo Pony Club horses trapped in floodwaters

Dana Bailey is the orange figure in the distance forcing her way through freezing floodwaters to rescue horses. Photo / Abby Chambers

Dawn had just begun to break over the district to the soundtrack of the relentless rain when Whangārei mum Dana Bailey thought: the horses!

From her Tikipunga home, she could see the floodwaters had engulfed Corks Rd.

Bailey's mind immediately jumped to the horses at the Kamo Pony Club on Balmoral Rd.

"If the water was across the road at home, I was expecting it to be the same there [...] I was worried the horses were going to drown."

Bailey quickly got in her car with her 11-year-old daughter and raced to the pony club.

She phoned her other daughter, 17-year-old Storm whose own horse was housed there.

"When I got there the 8ft fence that goes around the outside only had about 10cm peaking up above the water. It was barely visible."

Bailey raised the alarm with the other horse owners before chucking her phone toward her 11-year-old, instructing her to answer any calls and "stay in the car".

"She was like what are you doing?"

The answer: "mum's going in".

Bailey had her sights set on Toby.

"He's an old horse, the loveliest old horse, so I was worried about him. He was so cold and shivering," she said.

"I ran down and opened up the gate. The water was so swift."

Toby and Xenia, the other horse he was penned with, were too frightened to cross the floodwaters.

"Another horse went out into a safer bit," Bailey said.

At that point Storm arrived, and now both mum and daughter were in the icy "raging" torrent.

"When it got to my bottom I was like, do I really want to do this - it was freezing. Then it got up to my waist and it was just, oh my gosh."

The waters eventually reached the shoulders of the 165cm tall Bailey.

"It was so strong it was nearly knocking me over."

Bailey had to walk with the current through the strongest part of the floodwaters in order to avoid being swept away.

"I was yelling at my daughter to be bloody careful. I had to worry about myself, the horses, and her now."

Bailey was in such a rush to get to the horses' aid, she had forgotten she was wearing gumboots before jumping in.

But they managed to get two horses to safety.

"Then I looked to the far left and there were three horses stuck down there, all penned in."

Bailey rushed toward them, she could see the water level had reached halfway up the belly of the biggest horse.

"It was very scary," she said.

Despite the frightening situation, Bailey still had her wits about her and even saved a gecko struggling on the water's surface.

"I was like, I've got you."

Bailey and Storm managed to rescue the horses who came away with a few cuts and scrapes.

“I was really proud of my daughter,” Bailey said. “She didn’t hesitate when she got there.”