When Rafael Pease started shooting this video on his twenty-first birthday, it was mean to document a day of snowboarding on the powdery peaks of the Andes. But when Pease and his friend noticed something lodged in the snow in the distance, the video became a record of something much more important.
As he was descending down the slope, Pease saw what at first he thought was a rock a ways off. But a closer look revealed that it was actually a horse who had gotten bogged down in the huge expanse of snow and was unable to go on. When the men reach the horse, its spirit was clearly broken. The video shows the animal standing belly-high in a drift of snow, cold and wet, her ribs showing through her skin.
The two men immediately gave up their plans for the day, instead deciding to dig the horse out of her icy confines. Using small shovels, they dug around her legs, and then led her out of the snow drift and down the mountain. The horse so came to trust her rescuers that she happily followed as they snowboarded and skied ahead.
When they reached the bottom of the mountain, Pease and his friend found the horse’s owner, who told them that she had been missing for four days. Clearly, she wouldn’t have lasted much longer on her own and was incredibly lucky to have been found by the two kind young men.
The footage is incredibly heartwarming and shows how much of an impact a little human compassion can have on the life of an animal, while also showcasing the beauty of the Andes on a day of fresh snowfall. This video is a win for animal-lovers and nature-lovers alike, and it will fill you with the warm, fuzzy feeling that only comes with helping others. As Pease wrote in a blog post, “Hopefully this inspires you to get out there and not only live your life to the fullest, but to help others do the same.”
