"ATM" is in the foreground while Ann Webb, background,readies "Burger" as they prepare to transport the quarter
horses from a stable in Gurnee to a stable in Wadsworth.
(Tribune / Stacey Wescott / January 3, 2009)
50 animals were forced to evacuate Lake Villa stables before calamity caused by excess snow
(SWVHC: thank god people were paying attention to the structure of the barn and the snow!)A band of 50 homeless quarter horses hit the road over the weekend for temporary shelter and hopefully greener pastures after the roof of their Lake Villa stables collapsed under a foot of snow last month.
Holed up for the last two weeks at an equestrian complex near Gurnee, dozens of national-caliber show horses from Dianne Eppers Stables were loaded onto trailers Saturday for a short haul to an empty barn in nearby Wadsworth, their new home for the next few months during repairs.
"A couple of the grooms heard a noise in the arena at about 7 o'clock in the morning," Eppers said. "When I got down there I saw one of the rafters had a bow in it."
Warned by the Fire Department that a roof collapse was imminent, Eppers put out the word, and soon the phone lines were burning up with concerned horse lovers.
"The networking in the horse world is pretty good," she said. "We made a few phone calls and trailers started coming in the driveway."
By the time the roof caved in about 10:30 a.m., the horses had been safely moved to Fields & Fences, a massive 191-stall equestrian center on Hunt Club Road.
-more-