Drones and search dog find missing elderly pony stuck – and invisible – 12 feet deep in blackthorn hedge

The owner of an elderly pony who got himself stuck 12 feet deep – and completely out of sight – in blackthorn has paid tribute to the volunteers who came to his rescue, saying he would probably have died in there without them.

Ben, a 26-year-old Welsh section A belonging to Sue Wright, was found thanks to DroneSAR for Lost Dogs IoW, the Isle of Wight branch of the national service for reuniting animals and owners. He has now fully recovered from his ordeal.

“I can’t praise them enough,” Sue told H&H. “They’re all volunteers; they give up their time for the love of animals. I’ve had Ben 25 years and he’s part of the family. I’m so grateful to the team, they do fantastic work.”

Sue said she went to bring the horses in as normal on the morning of 14 April after her night shift but there were only two there, and a broken electric fence.

She searched thoroughly, expecting Ben to appear at any moment, posted on Facebook, then called a friend nearby who has horses, and suggested the DroneSAR team.

“I didn’t sleep that day; I couldn’t go home not knowing where he was,” Sue said. “I’d walked miles trying to find him.

“The drone people came within quarter of an hour, but of course didn’t look in the field because I’d already searched it. This went on all day.”

Sue then had a phone call from Kate Lewis, who is part of the group and suggested bringing search dog Dylan to the field.

“I put a rug of Ben’s down for the dog to sniff; he walked 100 yards and froze, and Kate said ‘We’ve found him’,” Sue said. “I’d never have found him in a million years.”

Sue said she thinks Ben, who is scared of electric fencing, must somehow have had a shock when the fence broke, and shot so deep into the blackthorn he could not free himself. Even when Dylan found him, he was still not visible.

“I was there, right next to where he was, calling him, and he never murmured; he must have been in shock,” she said, adding that her partner came with a mini digger to clear the blackthorn enough to get Ben out.

“It was so dense; wrapped round his legs and head, and his eyes were closed – I thought he’d lost them,” Sue said. “But the team didn’t go until he was safe in his stable.”

Suzzy Lee, who coordinates the rescue team’s efforts, told H&H the community volunteer group was set up as a branch of the national organisation last June. The +50 volunteers use their own and donated equipment, including thermal drones. The group has stands at events and gives out collection kits of sterile gauze, so owners can collect their dogs’ scent and keep it safe, to be used if they ever go missing.

She added that the drones are good at finding nervous animals as they can see them without being close enough to make them more scared.

“And if we do need the search dogs, the drones can see which direction to send them,” she said. “We have found more than 34 dogs so far, and we helped the zoo find some raccoons, and a Harris hawk – and Ben.

“We sent three drone pilots at first but started a bit further out, so of course they couldn’t see him, and then it got a bit gusty so we brought them in. Then the second time, we sent Dyli dog, who hadn’t searched for a horse before, but he sniffed the blanket and went straight to the pony.

“Thank goodness it all ended well – that’s what we hope for, and the volunteers do it for. They’re a fabulous team.”

The team, which has also been shortlisted for the 2025 Animal Star Awards, has had to press pause on its latest mission, looking for a 90-year-old missing tortoise called Joan.

“The weather got a bit colder so we think she’s buried herself somewhere; we hope we’ll be able to find her as soon as it warms up,” Suzzy said.

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