Burnt Pony, Lost in Knysna Fire, Follows Its Heart Home

Following the massive fires that ravaged the Knysna area earlier this month, Karen Rademeyer sent out urgent pleas for people in the area to look out for her five missing ponies. This last week, one of those ponies – Cody – followed his heart all the way home to her, 16 days later, along the N2…

Karen posted the photo above on Facebook, saying: “100m from home. Following his heart. Cody, you impress me every single day, my boy.”

Cody stumbled home on 23 June… having experienced severe facial burns. One SAPeople follower Isabel Geldenhuys, said: “We saw this take place and it was very very sad. A lot of cars stopped to help this little one… [he] had small coal burns… half his tail was gone and his eyes were partially burned. He looked so bewildered, but people knew what was happening and even a very large double truck came to a standstill just to give him a little space…”

Karen posted a photo of Cody the day after he made it back to her, and said: “This little guy made it all the way home, after 16 days of hell. First thing he did was search for his pony herd friends on the farm. Let’s find them…”

On the day of the fire, due to the encroaching flames, Karen was unable to relocate Cody and another four of her pony mares.

She explained in a post: “When the fire reached our farm on Wednesday 7th, we ran out of time, evacuating 14 horses and ponies. We couldn’t allow those assisting to put their lives at further risk and we therefore took the difficult decision to send the last 5 across the N2 and into the plantation between the N2 and Buffalo Bay.

“That area was not burning at the time, but the wind then changed direction and that whole area continued to burn for 4 days, towards Buffalo Bay. With all the chaos, fences down, road closures, etc, they could be anywhere, in any direction of the farm.

“We have tried drones, planes, thermal cameras (there were still too many hotspots from the fires at the time), 4×4’s and off-road bikes.”

Yesterday Karen said: “Despite the fact that our world has been turned upside down for a bit, it brings me so much joy to care for Cody. His strength and determination, and absolute gratitude to be alive, is an example to us all. He’s still resting a lot right now, so visitors are limited, but he’ll soon be strong enough for plenty of cuddles.”

He has now been joined by a couple of Karen’s other horses which had been safely evacuated.

Karen has been relying heavily on word-of-mouth to find the missing ponies. She said one of the things that counted in her ponies’ favour is that until just over three years ago, they were a feral herd, fending for themselves.

She believes they ARE all alive, just “lost and confused”…

If anyone can help, Cody also needs a small stable duvet as his coat was singed short. “He measures 110cm and he’s in a 110cm at the moment – but he has no shoulder or chest muscles to hold it in a comfortable position, so it’s rubbing. Anyone have a smaller pony rug lying around? Does NOT have to be fancy – just comfortable,” says Karen.

Through the anguish she has endured, Karen says: “It is during times of loss that we find ourselves. We see true colours. We realise what’s important. It is during times of loss that we gain the most.”

If you spot any of the ponies, please phone: Karen 082 877 1716 or Dave 081 360 7279

Recent reports of the devastating fire destroying Knysna Golf Club were untrue.