Wetsuit-clad SES members were called in to save the four animals, after two days of consistent heavy rain turned the Marshall Mount Road paddock, just north of the Yallah TAFE campus, into a raging watercourse.

‘‘When we got there we found there were four horses on a very narrow piece of ground with the water moving very swiftly on both sides,’’ John Wall, deputy controller of the Kiama SES unit, told the Mercury.

Given the fast-flowing nature of the water, an inflatable rescue boat was needed to help reach the stranded animals.

The SES crew planned to catch the horses, remove their rugs and swim each animal alongside the rescue boat to dry land, but the slightly distressed animals had another idea.

‘‘We got our teams across and the horses sort of took flight, actually got through the water themselves and up onto the higher ground,’’ Mr Wall said.

‘‘The owner of the property tells us that normally when the weather’s like this, they have that sixth sense and move themselves to higher ground.

‘‘We’ve got no idea why they decided to be a bit stubborn this time and hang out – maybe the grass is a lot greener in that dry patch than anywhere else ... and they were focused on the grass and not on the river that was rising on both sides. The creek [had] split in two and that was the issue, we had deep water on both sides.’’

Recent training in large animal rescues, which centred around keeping SES personnel safe, meant the Kiama crew was well prepared for whatever could have been thrown at them, Mr Wall said.

‘‘You can imagine that if you’re in a situation with very fast-flowing water and you’ve got a very flighty 500-kilogram animal then that can be an extremely dangerous situation,’’ he said.

The Kiama crew was assisted by personnel from the Wollongong and Coniston units, who were also involved in rescuing two other horses that were isolated at Yallah.