Horse racing: Special human moments refill the soul in wake of cyclone

Donated hay being unloaded.

Hawke’s Bay horse trainer Kirsty Lawrence is doing a job she wouldn’t wish on any animal lover in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.

But for every moment of sadness organising the burial of 17 horses so far, Lawrence says there are special human moments to refill the soul.

Lawrence is not only a horse trainer but president of the Waipukurau Jockey Club, whose track has been used as the distribution centre for some of the efforts to help animals and the owners of animals worst affected by the Cyclone.

With help from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and those inside the industry, Lawrence and her team have been able to distribute food and veterinary supplies to owners of animal left injured, displaced and/or starving by the horror storm and floods that followed.

But Lawrence admits sometimes their help comes too late.

“We have also had to help retrieve and bury 17 dead horses so far,” says Lawrence.

None of the horses were active racing thoroughbreds and most were not even found on their owner’s properties.

“We were doing our bit to help with the animal side of things, which of course spills into the human side, and on one of the Facebook pages we were using was a plea for a digger from somebody who had a dead horse on their property.

“As you can imagine, that would be incredibly upsetting but also hard for anybody without machinery and experience to deal with.

“You can’t just dig a hole and bury them because any hole you dig fills up with water,” says Lawrence.

“So we have taken some of them to higher ground to bury but that requires a digger. And almost all of these horses have been swept away in the floods and ended up at people’s properties who don’t have horses.

“We have, very sadly, retrieved horse bodies from back yards and in surrounding orchids.

“It is horrible work but if we can help so it at least it helps them get one step closer to normality.”

A brighter side of the role Lawrence and her team are performing out of the Waipukurau racetrack is distributing veterinary supplies and even sending vets out to animals.

“We have had money donated from all sorts of people, Jamie Richards and Danielle Johnson (Hong Kong-based horse racing stars) donated money to the vet fund so we can help injured horses.

“And we have had feed come in from all around the country. We had one trainer, Hollie Wynyard, turn up with a truck full of hay, pet food for the smaller animals, blankets, all sorts of things.

“We keep these here and people who are struggling to look after their animals can come get it.

“Because where we are is largely unaffected by the floods and it is dry, we have some people come in for a cup of tea and a muffin, sit and talk for an hour and they enjoy being away from home, away from the mud,” says Lawrence. “They might take a couple of bales of hay for their horses and go back to the battle.”