Lake County horses find new temporary home after roof collapse

"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!)

By Robert Channick |Special to the Tribune

January 7, 2009

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.

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Volunteers spend a week rescuing two horses in Canada

MCBRIDE, British Columbia (AP) — Two frostbitten, emaciated horses were recovering inside a warm barn on Saturday thanks to volunteers who spent the week before Christmas digging the animals out of snow in the mountains of northeastern British Columbia.

Birgit Stutz said Saturday that she and other rescuers cheered when they finally finished digging a half-mile escape route through the snow for the animals. The horses had been abandoned by a hunter and faced almost certain death.

Stutz said the horses eagerly accepted being bridled and seemed to know they were safe as volunteers led them on a seven-hour hike down the mountain in freezing temperatures on Tuesday. She said about 40 or 50 people took part in the rescue over the course of a week.

"It was a big effort," Stutz said in a telephone interview.

She said the horses were discovered on Dec. 15 by two local residents. They were above the tree line and had no shelter at first.

Logan Jeck and a friend stumbled across the horses while out looking for some snowmobiles left behind by tourists who had gotten stuck during a trip to the back country on the side of Mount Renshaw — about 750 miles northeast of Vancouver.

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New to Trail Riding? This is pretty entertaining.

Ride 'em, cowgirl – Local horse breeder is among elite in country

By: Gwen Johnson
http://ourvalley.org

Little did Tracy Roberts know when she was very young that her love of horses would one day put her among the elite in the nation as far as breeders go and set her on a career path that she would never have dreamed would happen.

In December Roberts, who lives in Craig County, Va., and breeds competitive cutting horses, will be catapulted into the spotlight across the country when two of her yearling horses will be sold in Texas at the National Cutting Horse Association’s Western Bloodstock sale.

“This is something I have aspired to for 20 years,” said Roberts. The cutting show and sale will be broadcast live via satellite over the RFD channel. “I will be proud to have them announce on national TV that the breeder is from New Castle, Va.”

Cutting is a western sport that originated in America and is the only sport with horses America can claim as its own. It is based on the need of the cowboy to isolate a cow from a large herd, to be doctored, branded or weaned. Today the American Quarter Horse is the equine of choice for the job and is bred for intelligence and athletic ability.

Roberts' claim to fame will be two foals she raised, named Red Mollie and San Creek Cat. Red Mollie will be sold at the Invitational Sale which begins at 5 p.m. Dec. 9. Out of 6,500 entries chosen or “invited” out, Red Mollie ranked 26 out of 65, according to Roberts.

Her second yearling stud, San Creek Cat, will sell in the Preferred Auction Dec. 12. That sale features a number of select horses, as well.

Both equines are the offspring of a mare Roberts purchased as a yearling filly from a friend of hers, Carol Rose, who is one of the top breeders in the country. That great mare’s name is Sannie Olena. As it turned out, the horse not only had royal bloodlines, she was an athlete and proved to be a winner in national competitions and earned an impressive money record in winnings.

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Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue Free Teaching Day

Free Teaching Day
DATE: November 9th, 2008
TIME: 1pm to 4 Pm
LOCATION: 1725 Edwardsville Rd. Hardy, VA
MORE: Hosted by RVHR
RSVP: 540-797-1999 or email info@rvhr.com

Learning how to be safe around horses.

People Training Days

RVHR offers Free Clinics each month if you like to learn to handle a horse and be safe please join us for one of the following clinics. Bring you chairs, drinks and Questions.

Each host of our clinics would like to ask for those who will be attending please RSVP

Bring your donations of cans, phones, POP's & Carrots & Apples there will be a representative from RVHR to collect them at each clinic.

Thank you.

Dates and times subject to change these clinics will be canceled due to weather.

Please call ahead to check 540-797-1999

November 9th, 2008 - Hardy Hosted by RVHR 1725 Edwardsville Rd. info@rvhr.com