"YOU let a horse pick you, you can't make a horse like you," says Anthony Sexton. "So if he gives you a lot of attention you're laughing, otherwise you're just fighting a never-ending battle."
Of the 20 or so horses six years ago in this Euroa paddock, in north-eastern Victoria, the one that chose him was Jeune Mark, offspring of the 1994 Melbourne Cup winner Jeune - though Mr Sexton knew nothing of the horse's heritage. "I just took him because he gave me a lot of attention," he says.
Jeune Mark made the trip down to the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, and his new home with Mr Sexton in the hamlet of Koornalla.
It was the beginning of a tight bond - a bond that perhaps ensured Jeune Mark would save Mr Sexton's life six months ago, on Black Saturday.
With most of his picturesque 11-hectare property already alight on February 7, Mr Sexton led Jeune Mark off the property by hand about 6.30pm.
They walked out of the gate and soon began trotting along Traralgon Creek Road. Before long they rounded a corner and were confronted by a wall of flames travelling across the road.
They doubled back, only to face another wall of flames in the other direction, the two walls only about 40 metres apart. Mr Sexton looked up the hill beside the road and saw more flames coming down the hill.
With fire surrounding them, Mr Sexton pulled on the rope, drew his horse in close and outlined the situation. "I just told Jeunes, ‘We're gonna die' - the plain facts. But he had other ideas, thank god," he says.
At this point, Mr Sexton says, Jeune Mark pushed his head and neck in further and then jolted up sharply, bumping him over the guard rail on the side of the road. With Mr Sexton still clinging on to the end of the rope, the pair then had an awkward wrestle, with the guard rail in between them, before the chestnut slipped free and took off into the smoke and flames, leaving Mr Sexton just a few metres from Traralgon Creek.
Scrambling and slipping he made his way down the bank and jumped in the creek.
Mr Sexton credits the bump over the guard rail from Jeune Mark as the move that saved his life, because it pointed him towards the safety of the creek.
For the next two to three hours he lay submerged in the water. The only things he kept out of the water were his nose, mouth and eyes, all covered by a wet hat.
Just before 10pm Mr Sexton emerged from the creek and walked back to his property.
It was clear his house had been destroyed. But before long he heard a neigh from the yard, confirmation that Jeune Mark had survived.
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