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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Word From Dressage Community Begins to Trickle In California Fires The Worst Ever - People and Horses Evacuated

Oct 23 - From Shannon Peters
Just got some email access- Steffen and I and horses are OK- all at the racetrack in Del Mar- Guenter is okay too- so far our farms and homes have held up- we are hoping they make it through the night.

We are here with 2000 other horses, and we keep running into other dressage folks- seems as though everyone we know was able to get their horses to safety. Keep us in your prayers.
Thanks, Shannon Peters

Southern California wildfires continued to rage out of control on Tuesday and evacuation sites for horse owners were either already filled to capacity or difficult to reach. Some horse owners were literally attempting to ride their horses to safety. More than one million California residents have been forced to leave their homes due to fires burning throughout Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties.

Many of America’s leading riders who are based in Southern California have already fled their barns. Getting information from the region is difficult as most equestrians have been on the move in the effort to get themselves and their horses to safety. Jo Moran, a USDF Bronze, Silver and Gold medalist based in San Diego County, cut short her Mexican vacation and by mid-afternoon Tuesday was stuck in the Dallas airport waiting for a flight home. Earlier in the day she had been in touch with friends Guenter Seidel and Steffen Peters and Moran said their horses were all safe at the Del Mar Show Park.

Thousands of horses have evacuated to Del Mar where the show park, fairgrounds and race track were all serving as evacuation centers. All were filled to capacity so that by Tuesday, horse owners were being redirected to other evacuation sites, such as one at Fiesta Island and one at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds. At one point on Tuesday, there were concerns that horses evacuated to the Del Mar locations might have to flee. However, by Tuesday evening, officials reported that Del Mar seemed out of danger – for the moment – and residents were being advised to stay put.

Moran said she had no idea if she still had a home, but all of her horses had been safely evacuated and were spread among family and friends. “The last I heard, the fires were a mile from my house,” she said. “But I’m so glad my horses are out, my dogs are out and my parrots are out. That’s what matters.”

Dressage rider Kim Keenan evacuated her Dove Hollow Dressage Center in Encinitas early on in the crisis. “We’re okay. We decided to get out early before it was absolutely necessary. I brought my crew up to Brookside Equestrian Center in Walnut in Riverside County. Our whole barn was pretty much evacuated by yesterday lunch time. It’s just unbelievable that there are so many fires everywhere,” she said.

Keenan said HITS had opened its Thermal show grounds to evacuating horses but getting to the grounds, located in the desert area east of Palm Springs, was the problem. Many roads throughout the region had been closed by authorities. “We’ll be going back down with trailers to try and help evacuate more horses,” she said.

Dressage rider and trainer Angie Gomez Taylor, based in Temecula in the northern part of San Diego County, watched fires in the distance from her window all day on Tuesday wondering if she might be the next to evacuate. “Everybody from Ramona to Del Mar has evacuated. Del Mar is full of horses and now many are having to go to Fiesta Island on the beach, but I’ve heard there is limited fresh water,” Gomez Taylor said. “This is horrible, horrible horrible. Much worse than in 2003. It’s so scary.”

With closed roads blocking evacuation routes and many horse evacuation sites already filled or themselves in danger from shifting fires, Gomez Taylor said the only plan she can come up with if she must flee is to head to nearby Lake Elsinore and “just hang out.” But for now, she is doing what most Southern California horse owners are doing, waiting and praying. “I’ve never, ever seen anything like this. It’s really bad.”

Not surprisingly, Southern California’s equestrian community is reporting the start of shortages of hay and feed. Fresh water is also a problem. Stay tuned to dressagedaily.com and horsesdaily.com for the latest information and we’ll let you know if, and how, you can help once that information becomes available.
Lynndee Kemmett for dressagedaily.com

If anyone has news for our readers on the status of the health and well being of our California friends and animals, or evacuation locations, please send us a note, and we will keep this page updated. info@horsesdaily.com