Westwood Farms
Well-Known Member
Please indulge me, as I tell you the story of my experience with Hurricane Rita...and my horses
It all began on Sept. 23, 2005, manditory evacuation of our area, Rita was headed right for us. I was frantic, knowing I could not take the horses. It was 110 outside, and they would have cooked in the trailer. I cried as I said goodbye to my Quarter Horse of over 20 years. I cried over telling them all goodbye. I prayed over them, and asked God to spare them. I told my little girl, all we can do is hope they will be here when we return. She, even at 5 years old, understood the magnitude of the storm, and our situation.
So, we left, not really knowing where we were headed. It took 8 hours to get to a normal 1 hour destination. People were very patient for the most part, as 3 million of us left our homes, our lives, and our critters behind. WE finally got to Checotah, Oklahoma 20 hours later. ( We got home in 8 ).
The people at the Kampground of America were very kind to us, and allowed us to stay in the main building as the storm approached our area. We had located our preacher and his family, and we stayed together through the whole thing. Preacher kept telling me my horses would be fine.
I cried more, and I cry as I write this. Rita changed me, forever.
The next morning, we called home, to only one family that stayed in our immediate area. Through the day, we called, checking on them, and getting updates on our places. Finally, we got word on our home, no-one could get back here, they had no idea if anything was standing, much less alive. I was terribly frantic. We called again, and they said trees were everywhere, and they simply could not even safely walk back here, due to all the debris, power lines down, and trees, I know for sure we have counted 40 trees down.
Then an old friend called the next day. He managed to get back here, and saw horses, ALIVE!!. My only question was is my nugget ok? He said he was sure 2 large horses made it through the storm. That meant my Nugget, and my foster horse were ok. Next question, were there any minis? He said yes, but he had no idea who, how many or anything. He told us of the trees being on every fence, and you could not really see through all the downed trees how many minis survived.
A farmer friend was able to cut around 8 trees, and bring in water every 3 days. At least they had something.
Chances mini horse rescue was very sweet, and helpful. We were displaced, could not get feed , and they gave us support we needed. Chances sent us a monitary donation, and we bought a generator to come home. Thank you Chances, you saved many horses lives by sending us that, so we could get home. They called and checked on us, as did several other forum members. I do appreciate everything that was done. Lone Star Equine \ Habitat for Horses also stepped up to the plate, since I am a foster mom, and within 10 days of being home, hay and feed was sent to me to disberse to the 3 counties that have fosters.
Before we left Oklahoma, we also bought gas to get home, we knew we would need it. I think we had 17, 5 gallon containers full, in a U- Haul.8 days later, we headed home, still not knowing the full magnitude of the damage of our area
As we came into Beaumont, which is of significant size, it was pitch black. It was so Eary, and scary. We could not orentate ourselves at all. We made the drive home, another 20 minutes or so out, and we got to our driveway. Even though it was dark, we could see it was bad. All we did was sit in the truck a bit, and look down the long, what used to be beautiful driveway. Now, it was just trees., and lots of them.
WE weaved through them, and got back to the house. It was fine. I got out, with a flashlight, and went to see my horses. They were all there, every one, from month old foals, to 25 year old horses. We set up a tent, and slept a couple of hours.
When daylight came, I checked every horse from head to toe. My mares were the worst off, I think they must have stood over their foals, and blocked them from flying debris.My Daughters mare had lost all her weight, she was bones. She is an older mare, and I had put her foal in with her during the storm. Her weanling was fine. They were all skinny, but glad I was home. I just sat out there, and thanked God for every head of horse out there, I was thankful we had a house to come home to, and I was thankful to be alive. We were Lucky, many houses still have trees in them. We had 140 mph winds clocked here, and a tornado, and we still had a home.
Of course there was damage, the house shifted on its foundation, so we have lots of remodeling to do, the barn lost a wall, and the trampoline moved from the back yard, over the house, and sat itself in the front yard. I am still amazed my horses made it.
It took almost 3 weeks to get lights back on, and my daughter missed 17 days of school. We just got our internet, and cable on this week.
I learned a couple of things with Katrina, that directly affected how we treated the storm coming for us. Get out was the first lesson I learned, and had we still lived in the log cabin that we just sold and moved from, we would have stayed. It had 3 trees in it. I learned have a contact person. Ours was family in Kansas. Although I had no clue where my dad, step mom, or my brother and their family was, I knew right after the storm they were ok.
I also learned horses are stronger than we think. They got upper respiratory infections, and oh, my goodness, rain scald so bad. But, I knew better than to leave them in the barn, and it is a good thing I did not, as it lost a wall. We are still treating them for this and that, since they got so stressed, but all in all, they are great.
If anyone would like to e-mail me for pictures, you are welcome to. [email protected] FEMA is still around, and we just saw the insurance man this week. Our fences are a mess, and most still have trees on them, but the horses cannot get out. The horse trailer is un-usable, it got whacked.
We burn and burn, and this weekend, finally, we see a dent in the downed trees. Rita is finally going away. Looking at those trees are a great reality check, but I am glad to be getting them burned.
Thank you for all your support, prayers, and thoughts. It really means the world to me. I am sorry this is so long, but I really could go on and on forever.
I also want to thank Christy Darmond. As most of you know, I had Ranger, Too. I had paid a bunch into him, but after the storm felt I needed to return him, as I could not justify making payments on a horse, when our property is a huge mess. We needed living money, since both of us could not work for a couple of weeks. She did not even ask questions, she knew we were in a bind. I miss Ranger, too every single day, he is a wonderful horse. We had finally bonded right before Rita. If you have the opportunity, buy him, he really looks like his professional pictures. He is gorgeous. Thank you Christy for understanding.
I will be a lurker again, I am glad to be back.
Alicia and family
It all began on Sept. 23, 2005, manditory evacuation of our area, Rita was headed right for us. I was frantic, knowing I could not take the horses. It was 110 outside, and they would have cooked in the trailer. I cried as I said goodbye to my Quarter Horse of over 20 years. I cried over telling them all goodbye. I prayed over them, and asked God to spare them. I told my little girl, all we can do is hope they will be here when we return. She, even at 5 years old, understood the magnitude of the storm, and our situation.
So, we left, not really knowing where we were headed. It took 8 hours to get to a normal 1 hour destination. People were very patient for the most part, as 3 million of us left our homes, our lives, and our critters behind. WE finally got to Checotah, Oklahoma 20 hours later. ( We got home in 8 ).
The people at the Kampground of America were very kind to us, and allowed us to stay in the main building as the storm approached our area. We had located our preacher and his family, and we stayed together through the whole thing. Preacher kept telling me my horses would be fine.
I cried more, and I cry as I write this. Rita changed me, forever.
The next morning, we called home, to only one family that stayed in our immediate area. Through the day, we called, checking on them, and getting updates on our places. Finally, we got word on our home, no-one could get back here, they had no idea if anything was standing, much less alive. I was terribly frantic. We called again, and they said trees were everywhere, and they simply could not even safely walk back here, due to all the debris, power lines down, and trees, I know for sure we have counted 40 trees down.
Then an old friend called the next day. He managed to get back here, and saw horses, ALIVE!!. My only question was is my nugget ok? He said he was sure 2 large horses made it through the storm. That meant my Nugget, and my foster horse were ok. Next question, were there any minis? He said yes, but he had no idea who, how many or anything. He told us of the trees being on every fence, and you could not really see through all the downed trees how many minis survived.
A farmer friend was able to cut around 8 trees, and bring in water every 3 days. At least they had something.
Chances mini horse rescue was very sweet, and helpful. We were displaced, could not get feed , and they gave us support we needed. Chances sent us a monitary donation, and we bought a generator to come home. Thank you Chances, you saved many horses lives by sending us that, so we could get home. They called and checked on us, as did several other forum members. I do appreciate everything that was done. Lone Star Equine \ Habitat for Horses also stepped up to the plate, since I am a foster mom, and within 10 days of being home, hay and feed was sent to me to disberse to the 3 counties that have fosters.
Before we left Oklahoma, we also bought gas to get home, we knew we would need it. I think we had 17, 5 gallon containers full, in a U- Haul.8 days later, we headed home, still not knowing the full magnitude of the damage of our area
As we came into Beaumont, which is of significant size, it was pitch black. It was so Eary, and scary. We could not orentate ourselves at all. We made the drive home, another 20 minutes or so out, and we got to our driveway. Even though it was dark, we could see it was bad. All we did was sit in the truck a bit, and look down the long, what used to be beautiful driveway. Now, it was just trees., and lots of them.
WE weaved through them, and got back to the house. It was fine. I got out, with a flashlight, and went to see my horses. They were all there, every one, from month old foals, to 25 year old horses. We set up a tent, and slept a couple of hours.
When daylight came, I checked every horse from head to toe. My mares were the worst off, I think they must have stood over their foals, and blocked them from flying debris.My Daughters mare had lost all her weight, she was bones. She is an older mare, and I had put her foal in with her during the storm. Her weanling was fine. They were all skinny, but glad I was home. I just sat out there, and thanked God for every head of horse out there, I was thankful we had a house to come home to, and I was thankful to be alive. We were Lucky, many houses still have trees in them. We had 140 mph winds clocked here, and a tornado, and we still had a home.
Of course there was damage, the house shifted on its foundation, so we have lots of remodeling to do, the barn lost a wall, and the trampoline moved from the back yard, over the house, and sat itself in the front yard. I am still amazed my horses made it.
It took almost 3 weeks to get lights back on, and my daughter missed 17 days of school. We just got our internet, and cable on this week.
I learned a couple of things with Katrina, that directly affected how we treated the storm coming for us. Get out was the first lesson I learned, and had we still lived in the log cabin that we just sold and moved from, we would have stayed. It had 3 trees in it. I learned have a contact person. Ours was family in Kansas. Although I had no clue where my dad, step mom, or my brother and their family was, I knew right after the storm they were ok.
I also learned horses are stronger than we think. They got upper respiratory infections, and oh, my goodness, rain scald so bad. But, I knew better than to leave them in the barn, and it is a good thing I did not, as it lost a wall. We are still treating them for this and that, since they got so stressed, but all in all, they are great.
If anyone would like to e-mail me for pictures, you are welcome to. [email protected] FEMA is still around, and we just saw the insurance man this week. Our fences are a mess, and most still have trees on them, but the horses cannot get out. The horse trailer is un-usable, it got whacked.
We burn and burn, and this weekend, finally, we see a dent in the downed trees. Rita is finally going away. Looking at those trees are a great reality check, but I am glad to be getting them burned.
Thank you for all your support, prayers, and thoughts. It really means the world to me. I am sorry this is so long, but I really could go on and on forever.
I also want to thank Christy Darmond. As most of you know, I had Ranger, Too. I had paid a bunch into him, but after the storm felt I needed to return him, as I could not justify making payments on a horse, when our property is a huge mess. We needed living money, since both of us could not work for a couple of weeks. She did not even ask questions, she knew we were in a bind. I miss Ranger, too every single day, he is a wonderful horse. We had finally bonded right before Rita. If you have the opportunity, buy him, he really looks like his professional pictures. He is gorgeous. Thank you Christy for understanding.
I will be a lurker again, I am glad to be back.
Alicia and family
