Hold your horses

I was too worried about my horses to say much to my sister who was crammed into a small closet with me during the hurricane.
I had 36 horses on the property and seven of them were pregnant. We breed and train national championship Arabian horses.

There are many expert opinions on what to do with horses during a hurricane. Some say to keep them in the barn. There is the risk that if the barn is destroyed it could injure or kill them. Other people suggest keeping them all outside but once your fences are down, they could wander into a nearby road and be hit by a car.

I moved 30 of the horses into the barn while the other six who are use to being outside stayed in the pasture. They had spent the last 18 years in the pasture and they would be better there than forced into the barn stalls.
Before the hurricane hit, I filled up their stalls with food and water and tagged each horse with my contact information in case they wandered off.

My sister had evacuated from her home in Lynn Haven to my parent’s farm in Southport. They have a brick house on 30 acres. We thought we would be safer the farther away we were from the water.

We stocked up on food and water and I ensured we had two weeks of food for the horses at the farm and another two months’ worth of food at a warehouse in Panama City.

Our house is 200 feet from the barn, but during the hurricane the wind obstructed the view. When we watched the chimney land in the pool, we knew it was time to take shelter.

Shingles ripped off the roof and water poured in through the 19-foot ceilings as my parents sat in the downstairs bathroom.

My sister, three poodles and I were in a closet across the hallway from them.

I was surrounded by my show clothes. The beautiful tailored coats and shirts that I would wear when I would show my horse in competition. The National Championship was in a week. Would I be able to show my horse?

Water started pouring into the closet. The clothes were destroyed. We have one poodle that we call “Queen of the Farm” and she didn’t want to get her feet wet. So, she sat on my shoulders.

It was hot in the closet. Especially with a dog on your shoulders. Miraculously, we had cell service and were able to get storm updates from our sister in Washington state and a friend in Colorado.

When the winds died down, I went outside to check on the horses. They were all safe. Not a scratch on any of them. The horse barns survived but my work barn and the hay barns were all destroyed.

The work barn fell on our back ho and the work horse tractor was covered in metal roofing and debris. A neighbor came over and cut 14 trees off the drive way so we could get a car out.

I went to the barn for the first time after the storm, there were 8 trees down in between the house and the barn. I had to climb over and under trees just to get there. The front doors of one barn were ripped off and on the ground. The doors of the other barn were damaged so badly by the sheer force of the wind that they were almost impossible to open.

My sister left to check on my parent’s business and her house in Panama City and I began to feed and water the horses.
Horses on average drink five to ten gallons of water a day. Our whole house generator was destroyed and we were without power and water. I moved about 360 gallons of water from the pond to the barn with one small wheel barrow.

Dr. Bess Darrow a veterinarian and equine dentist from Ocala brought us medications for the horses and arranged for someone else to foster my horses while we cleaned up the farm. I have never met the people who cared for my horses for 4 months after the hurricane.

I wasn’t able to compete in the competition after the storm. My trainer showed my horse for me and he won a Reserve National Championship.

We are still in recovery mode.

Nothing in our home was salvageable. We have had four insurance adjustors come out but we haven’t heard from any of them since November. The mitigator billed the insurance company directly but they haven’t been paid them. They may put a lien on the property.

This hurricane has been a big hit. The horse breeding business is a large financial investment and none of it is covered by insurance. We are trying to figure out where the money will come from.

Not having the arenas to train the horses means we have to pay to send them off to be trained. This is five times more expensive than if I did it myself.

We have eight babies due any time now. We need to breed at least four more mares this year so we have something to sell four years from now. We can’t afford to miss a year.

There will be lots of changes as we figure out what we really need to operate. It won’t look exactly like it did before but we are working hard to put life back together.