Horse Kai put down after chopper scare

• Published date: 17 March 2021
• Author: Alyssa Smith
• Date: 17 March 2021
• Publication title: Stratford Press

Christine Lowe had owned Kai, a 16-year-old Cleveland Bay, for three years.

“He was my only horse, my only child and he’s been taken away from me.”

On January 25 a helicopter subcontracted to Powerco flew over her and her husband Graham’s .2 hectare property completing Light Detecting And Ranging (LiDAR) and Pole Top Photography (PTP) work.

“We had no alert about it. We went through the public notices on the website and we couldn’t find anything. In the old days we’d get a flyer in the letterbox but we had nothing.”

Christine says she initially didn’t know why the helicopter was there.

“The paddock is between the railway and powerlines. At the time I didn’t connect the helicopter and powerlines. They were flying right over the paddock. I called a local helicopter company and they told me they had subcontracted a helicopter to Powerco.”

She says when she heard the noise she went to the paddock to check on Kai.

“The noise was deafening. I thought they were landing in the paddock. I rushed to Kai’s paddock but at that point he had gone through the rail and disturbed the concrete wall underneath it. The helicopter was flying very low. I could see the pilot’s face and headset. I was screaming at the helicopter to go away. It came back two or three times.”

Christine called the vet to check Kai.

“He was lame. The vet checked his leg and put him on the strongest pain killer and anti-inflammatory medicine. In 2018 he had a chipped bone in his hoof, which he has recovered from. The vet checked to see if there was any link to the old injury and his lameness but he found none as it was further up the leg.

“Kai had gone lame because he had been spooked and injured himself trying to get away from the helicopter. The vet looked at me and shook his head and my heart just dropped.”

Christine called Powerco on January 28. She says she is upset that Powerco offered to cover the injury cost but then revoked the offer.

“The lady on the phone was very upset. She was apologising and said Powerco would cover the injury cost. On January 30 she sent an email and it had a completely different tone. The email implied that Kai was already injured but that wasn’t the case.

“What made me angry is the email included a list of things I have to do to protect their assets but what about us, what about Kai? I want this resolved.”

Christine says her search to find the “perfect” horse took three years.

“I had looked for three years for the right horse and he ticked all the boxes. We just...