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When fire threatened their home at Lorne, Carol Booth and Gail Sheehan gathered their four horses and took shelter at Wauchope Showground.
But one horse, Oscar, is blind, and was spooked by the new surroundings, especially as there were hundreds of other animals there with their owners, fleeing the terrifying bushfires.
Carol is a retired doctor, who happens to play the harp, so she took out her instrument and the music immediately calmed Oscar down.
"He's not used to being in a stable like this, with big things happening, and he can't see very well, and starts pawing the ground, but when Carol plays to him, he just calms right down," said Gail, who is full of gratitude to the Wauchope Show Society for looking after everyone so well at the showground.
"It's been such a great thing. We've got a lot of State forest around us and just the thought of anything happening to the horses... If the house goes, the house goes, it would be sad, but you can replace a house, but not these horses," she said.