Rider and farmer Harvey Nelson, still recovering from an accident in December, with the dogs that stayed by his side while he waited for rescue.
Rider and farmer Harvey Nelson, still recovering from an accident in December, with the dogs that stayed by his side while he waited for rescue.
Farmer Harvey Nelson found himself lying in a gully, his badly broken leg splinted with two dog collars and a tree branch.
He had been there almost five hours when he heard the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter overhead.
“The first time the chopper flew over, it buggered off again. I thought, ‘hang on, you’re meant to be rescuing me’ — but they had seen where I was, in a creek in a gully, they had flown off to pick up a crew member who was winch trained so they could pick me up,” says Harvey.
Four months ago he had been mustering a 150ha paddock on a lease block at Waimarama in December, on horseback.
“I wasn’t anywhere I wouldn’t normally go. I was on a track above a creek, nothing challenging, I would have happily had my kids ride there.
“I don’t know what happened, I must have been knocked out. The next thing I remember, I was lying in a cattle rut and the horse was on top of me. He was good, he didn’t struggle.
“I managed to pull myself out and dropped 1.5m into the creek. I knew I had to get out of the horse’s way. I was on my hands and knees, but nothing was working, I tucked myself under the bank and he came crashing down beside me.”
Harvey looked down. His badly broken femur and tibia were poking out of the side of his leg.
“I had my dogs with me so I made a splint out of dog collars and a bit of wood. The horse was still in the creek so I tried to get back off him, but eventually he took off.”
Harvey knew that when he didn’t come home, his wife and kids would look for him.
“I sat on the side of the creek, but after a while the flies were getting at my leg so I got in the water. I had to get out again after the eels started picking at my leg.”
In the meantime, Harvey’s wife, Rachel, and their children were searching and had found the horse.
Their neighbours, too, were looking.
But Harvey was in “a s*** place”.
“I was beside a waterfall, they couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t hear them. My son had been 20m above me and couldn’t find me. My dogs stayed with me and they were reacting to something — they could hear the searchers.”
After three hours of searching, Harvey’s wife and his neighbour found him.
“Boy, was I pleased to see them,” he says.
A call to emergency services brought the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter overhead, and a paramedic was winched down and joined the searchers in carrying Harvey to where he could be loaded aboard. It was five hours since his accident.
“The chopper crew was brilliant. I wish I could remember more about the helicopter trip,” he says.
Harvey Nelson had six surgeries on his badly broken leg.
From Hawke’s Bay Hospital, Harvey was flown to Lower Hutt Hospital where he had six surgeries to screw and plate his femur and tibia and reroute a flap from his thigh to cover the wound.
He’s still on crutches and “a long way off walking yet”, but when he’s mobile he intends to go to the helicopter hangar to catch up and say thanks.
In the meantime, he says he’s very lucky to have the support of his wife and family to help run the farm.
Central Hawke’s Bay showjumper and avid fundraiser Claire Wilson said five of her friends had been flown to hospital by the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter.
Every year, Claire holds a grassroots showjumping competition, a fun event she dubbed the Winter Olympics. This year will be the 15th Winter Olympics. It began as a fundraiser for Flemington School, raising $1000 in that first year.
Then it grew. Last year’s event raised $34,500 for Epic Ministries, a charity that focuses on the development of youth in Central Hawke’s Bay.
The event now attracts dozens of riders, adults and children and dozens of sponsors who donate everything from prizes and cups to auction items that are auctioned in their droves each year on Claire’s Facebook page — from glamping weekends and art to pea hay and truckloads of shingle.
Competitions now include a cowboy challenge, hobby horse events and photography, organised by a growing team of helpers, organisers and supporters.
This year’s main charity is the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter.
Harvey Nelson is on the long road to recovery after his horse stumbled and fell, causing a compound fracture to his leg.
When Claire Wilson was deciding where this year’s Winter Olympics fundraising would go, Harvey put his hand up for the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter.
“We can’t be without it. The number of people they pick up, we have to keep it funded. Plenty of us horse people have used it and I couldn’t think of anything better to support.
An intrepid horse and rider brave the mud in the showjumping arena at last year’s Winter Olympics. Photo / Jackie Lowry Photography
“We do farm work on horses and my accident was nothing I did, or the horse, it was just a bit of bad luck on the day. Any one of us could need the helicopter at any time.
“The effort Claire puts into this fundraiser and the support she gets back is amazing.”
The Winter Olympics is at Mt Herbert Farm, Pōrangahau Rd, Waipukurau, on Saturday, April 27. Entries are via main-events.com and close on April 22. Spectators are encouraged.
