November 2006 brought the inspiring tale of the Great Netherlands Horse Rescue. A group of about 100 horses were stranded on a small piece of land when the waters rose unexpectedly after a fierce storm.
The horses were stranded for three days on a tiny sliver of land. A group of gritty, creative women initiated the rescue attempt and firemen and animal welfare officers helped them to bring the horses food and water to keep up their strength. As wind and icy rain blasted the horses, they huddled together with their rear ends facing the wind. Finally on the third day, the great rescue was made by these brave and fiesty women.
The video of the rescue is incredibly moving. (The sound starts about a minute into the video.) The combination of the horse footage and music will bring happy tears to any horse lover’s eyes. It is also a story of creativity, tenacity and inspirational leadership – all traits we admire in others and which lead to greatness in organizations – we find our lessons everywhere!
(Thanks to Shonnie Lavender for bringing this story to my attention. You can read the full story here.)
1) Too bad most of the rescued horses were shipped to the slaughterhouse a few days after.
2) The owner wasn’t charged with anything after thorough investigations. He had taken the horses to sufficiently high grounds as a precautionary measure. Unfortunately the animals themselves left for lower grounds before it all turned into water with a few small islands.
Rock, thank you for this contribution. Would you please give us a reference as to the source of this information? We would like to investigate further.