Rosie the Pony Tossed Through the Air and Killed After Trucks Pass at 100km/hr
Rosie was my 10-year old daughter’s pony. She was white and adored by my daughter.
Rosie was my 10-year old daughter’s pony. She was white and adored by my daughter. In June 2020 we were walking our ponies down the road from a paddock they were grazing at to the neighbours. My daughter was leading Rosie and I had my pony - an old pig hunting pony. It was later than I would have liked (probably about 5.30pm) and getting dark. We didn't have hi vis gear on (something we do now). Rosie however was a bright white colour! The section of road that we walk is about 50-metres and has a clear vision to the North of about 500 metres. There is a good two-metre verge on the side we walked on.
“It’s not slowing down!”
On this day we were walking the ponies back and could see a large truck coming behind us (from the North). It wasn't slowing down. My daughter said “it’s not slowing down” and was panicking, so I tried to take her pony as well and run both of them into a nearby driveway to get out of the way. But both ponies were panicking by this stage. I got twisted in the ropes as the first truck went past us at 100km and fell over. The ponies bolted. Unfortunately there was a second truck from the same trucking company following close behind and as Rosie tried to bolt home, she crossed the road and got hit by the second truck and flung in the air. She didn't die immediately, rather it took 20-mins whilst I sat with her and tried not to think of how my 10-year daughter was doing just having seen her pony tossed through the air and killed.
I didn't report it as I hoped it was just an accident and I know that we did things wrong too (late at night, no hi vis). However, in the limited times I have ridden on the road since, I have seen trucks not slow down for horses (including my own) quite a few times.
“I would really like truck drivers to understand that horses can be really scared of trucks and as they are travelling past they have no idea if the horse is going to be scared or not. They also have no idea if there is an experienced person leading / riding the horse, and I always think back to that day and if I hadn’t taken the ponies lead rope would the pony have dragged my 10 year old daughter onto the road as well in front of the second truck? What would have happened if we were riding them?”
I have heard it said that any horse that is on the road should be tolerant of trucks, but you can’t get tolerance if the horses haven't had good experiences with trucks and generally horse people stay off the roads unless they really have too. The woosh of a truck going past at 100km/hr is frightening enough when you are just standing by the road, let alone if you are an animal.”
Rest in aroha Rosie
The PWASNZ team thank Rosie’s whānau for sharing this important story with Aotearoa.