Heartwarming Story of 4 Women's Rescue of ~200 Trapped Horses

You may have heard about the herd of horses that were trapped for 3 days on a tiny piece of land in wind and rain in the Netherlands a short while ago

They were trapped on a small piece of land, surrounded by water. Their natural instincts kept them from swimming to solid land, from their tiny perch. There were about 200 horses huddled together against the wind and water.

The Nation was mesmerized watching this drama as 18 of the horses perished, while others were slowly weakening. First the fire department, then the Dutch army, tried to rescue them - both efforts were unsuccessful.

Then, with a break in the weather, the water level went down and four women hatched a plan to attempt a rescue by luring the horses into the water. Here's a video of the successful rescue.

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-4584913278289860160

:applause:

I am crying . . .

That was beautiful, glorious, noble, inspiring. Thank you, thank you for posting :)

long enough to be present when MLK Jr gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in DC. She is an inspiration herself!

Can you imagine being on one of the four horses or even watching from land...the overwhelming feeling to see those majestic animals follow the women to safety? I'm sitting here with tears. Thank you for a beautiful and inspiring post.

Add me to the list of people who are sitting here in tears. What a beautiful, heartfelt piece.

Thanks for sharing this with us and opening our hearts.

just goes to show the importance of trusting leaders.

Pardon my use of this story for an obvious analogy, but I couldn't help thinking-- Where are the leaders with integrity who will guide us out of our quagmire in Iraq? We got into Iraq by following the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse

Where are the brave leaders who will bring us home?

I'm smiling with tears running down my face.

Horses are herd animals and will naturally follow a leader, but this was just a sight to behold, all those magnificent creatures heading to freedom and then breaking into a run as they reached land. OMG. And the music was absolutely perfect, it really added to the drama.

There are so many horses where I live and after all these years, whenever I look at them, I am simply amazed by their grace and beauty.

Thank you very, very much for sharing this story with us here on DU.

It is VERY heartwarming to see this amongst all the bad news.

It was the owner's fault that these horses were in jeopardy. He did not move them to safe ground when there were several days of warnings. He has been guilty of abusing his horses in the past.

""Marianne Thieme, leader of the Netherlands' Party for the Animals, said it was clear something went badly wrong, since the country's weather service had warned of possible flooding as early as Tuesday morning.


"The most terrible thing is that the death and suffering of all these horses could have been prevented. When autumn comes, you know that if you keep animals outside the dikes you put them at great risk," she said.""

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/11/03/international/i063617S34.DTL

But i really wish the Vangelis piece wasn't a part of it. If you've ever heard that many horses pounding the surf or galluping up a hill, you'd know it's a powerful, bone-rattling sound. No need to dramatize it a la "Chariots of Fire"...

love can't be given to repay the debt.

But the owner of those very same horses (last name is Lootsma) raises them for MEAT. (No shit, look up the articles about it online.) Yes, the same horses saved in the video are destined for the dinner table. Horse meat is a staple there, and horse meat sausage is a breakfast favorite. To me, that would be the more "emotional" aspect of the video: "beautiful animals heroically saved so they could be slaughtered". But - hey - just like the feelgood movies coming out of Iraq, why let facts tarnish the veneer of happiness?

People in the area were trying to rescue the horses from their eventual trip to the slaughterhouse. I haven't read any updates on their progress, recently.