Come Hell or High Water! Are Your Horses Ready to Load? By Patricia E. Skinner
July 13, 2021
The moment I heard that BC Wildfire Service barred locals from attacking the White Rock Lake wild fire the day that it started, I panicked. Even though the fire started only 10 acres in size and was about 40 km away, I instantly had a knowing that if it came down to evacuating my farm, I would logistically not be able to both relocate all my animals, and prepare my farm for the worst. I needed many hands on deck to get ready ASAP.
M
y list was a mile long and there was no way I could do it all alone. Everything else went on hold and six of the biggesthearted angel friends that a horsewoman/sheep farmer could have came from far and wide to help. I had taken a Farm/Ranch Firesmart Course (highly recommend!) after the 2017 Monte Lake fire scare and checked my notes for reminders. We put in unbelievable hours day in and day out for weeks preparing for the worst: cutting out seemingly endless loads of cedar and juniper bushes (gasoline) from everywhere on the farm (including about 75 feet into the neighbouring forested property); weed eating every blade of grass and spreading gravel around the house, barns, arenas and round pens; cutting branches 6 feet up on all trees within 100 feet of buildings; moving flammables; covering hay and bedding; tuning up generators... on and on. We rigged up every spare irrigation pipe I could find and bought every sprinkler there was available to enhance the gravity-fed irrigation. We had water running everywhere possible; the curtain of humidity created within the core of the farm was very evident and, as history will tell, our preparation saved (my) Harmony Farm and all within. “Need Help... Now!” Two days after the fire started it was classed rank 4 “out of control” and had spread 14,500 ha towards Westwold and Falkland. Dusk, July 16th, I got an emergency call from an old friend who lives on Douglas Lake Road. She was ordered to evacuate and had 3 horses that desperately needed a trailer ride out of there “now!” I quickly hooked up my 3-horse angle haul gooseneck trailer and headed out. It was dark when I got there and as she haltered her horses passing them
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to me with short worn lead lines, she mentioned that it had been years since two of them had been on a trailer and that was a stock trailer. One of them hadn't been off her property ever and... had never seen a trailer. Even having extensive experience it took my more effective equipment and a couple hours for me to get her 3 horses loaded, but it wasn't relaxed or easy and the process beat me up pretty good. My friend thanked me profusely, stating that she herself could physically never have been able to get them loaded that night, especially feeling as scared and as desperate emotionally, with the fire so close. “I Won't Leave Him Behind!” August 2nd, I saw a post on the Falkland FB community page by a gal that had one horse, was in the line of fire and after having many horse people fail to load her horse, she was desperately reaching out for help, stating that she would never leave him behind if she got the order to evacuate. I heard her plea and carved out the time to help. Eleven years young, not started or handled much, her gelding had only been in a trailer as a weanling and besides having zero motivation to get on a trailer... was loved beyond the pale. I trailered over and took considerable time to work with her and her horse and, got him loaded. We loaded and backed him out of the trailer many times and I taught her the short version to load him herself so that if the time came to have to leave she'd know what to do. Well, only 2 days later on August 4th, her evacuation order came. She got packed and had a friend come with a horse trailer. She tried and tried but this time, fear driven and with high emotion, she just couldn't get her horse loaded onto that dark cave on wheels, nor
