Boat-riding cowboy wrangles horses to safety through B.C. floodwaters
'If we didn't do anything, then my heart probably would have shattered in 2 billion pieces'
This story was originally published on Nov. 16, 2021.
Henry Chillihitzia has wrangled his fair share of farm animals — but he usually does it on horseback.
That changed Monday when the machine loader-operator and former bull rider sprang into action, using a motorboat to herd 29 horses to safety through freezing cold and fast-moving floodwaters in Merritt, B.C.
"That's my first time doing that in a boat," Chillihitzia told As It Happens host Carol Off. "I knew if we didn't do anything then, yeah, my heart probably would have shattered in two billion pieces."
Much of B.C. was bombarded by torrential rains over the weekend and Monday, leading to widespread flooding, landslides, road closures and evacuations. The RCMP says at least one person was killed in a landslide near Lilooet.
The rain started to subside on Tuesday as officials began assessing the damage, but large swaths of the province remained under flood watch or flood warning.
In a 2020 report, Environment and Climate Change Canada predicted that climate change would lead to increased extreme rainfall and flooding across North America.
WATCH | Horses are herded to safety out of flooded hayfield in Merritt, B.C.
The southern B.C. city of Merritt — still recovering from devastating summer wildfires — was hit hard by floods.
On Sunday night, Jerry McCauley and Connie Joe's horses were roaming happily in their Merritt hayfield. By Monday morning, it looked more like a raging brown river.
The animals were cold, wet and trapped. They needed to get to higher ground, or face possible death from hypothermia and exhaustion.
Chillihitzia lives in nearby Douglas Lake, but was working in Merritt when he got a text from his boss that some cows and horses were stranded in the floodwaters. An experienced cowboy with horses of his own, he stepped in to help.
The cows were easy enough to herd to safety. But the only path for the horses was over a dip in the ground where the water was nearly two metres deep.
The wary animals didn't want to swim across, so Chillihitzia and several other Good Samaritans saddled up some other horses and used them to try to coax the stranded herd in the right direction.
I had a lump in my throat the whole time, so my emotions were pretty high.- Henry Chillihitzia, horse rescuer
But it was no use. The water was rising too rapidly and moving at about 60 kilometres an hour, according to Chillihitzia, making it impossible for their horses to swim in those conditions with the added weight of saddle and rider.
"I said, 'Yeah, this plan is not going to work, so we have to put our horses away and either put waders on, or get a boat.' The best way was to get a boat."
Wrangling horses in a boat is no easy feat. On board were Chillihitzia, Phil Dumont and Tyson Vandean, who owns the boat. McCauley, the owner of the horses, waited on a nearby tractor and several others stood watch around the perimeter of the flooded field.
On their first attempt, the boat's motor gave out. Even when they got back up and running, it took four hours in the cold, pounding rain to get the horses to budge.
Everyone was tired, and at one point, they considered that the horses might not move, but Chillihitzia urged them to keep going.
"I said, 'Well, they stood in water overnight, so we can't give up now. We've got to keep trying until we get them in.' "
They started by simply circling the horses with the boat, then came at the animals sideways, pushing them in the direction they needed to go.
Finally, a brave mare at the front of the herd made the plunge with her foal, swimming about three metres across the dip. The rest soon followed.
WATCH | Stranded horses finally emerge from floodwaters:
In a dramatic Facebook video of the rescue, Chillihitzia and his horse-wrangling comrades can be heard whooping and hollering in celebration as the animals made it to safety.
"I had a lump in my throat the whole time, so my emotions were pretty high. And I own horses myself, so they're kind of like my kids, right?" he said.
"It was a relief for sure, getting them to higher ground and dry and getting them some feed. It was overwhelming."
On Monday, McCauley's daughter, Jeanette, posted on Facebook that the animals are all safe and accounted for.
"They are all OK, no more shivering, and bellies full of hay!" she wrote. "Huge thank you to everyone who was out there all day in the cold and rain and wind doing everything possible to save them!"
Chillihitzia says the animals at his Douglas Lake home are all doing fine. He was still working in Merritt on Monday when he spoke to As It Happens, and says floodwaters there are starting to recede, but there's been a lot of damage to a community that's still recovering from summer wildfires.
"It's a rough year," he said. "First, we had the fires … now, just all of a sudden, overnight — just boom."
Written by Sheena Goodyear. Interview produced by Chris Harbord.
