Posted on 12/06/2017 2:52:43 PM PST by BenLurkin
Amid the charred landscape of Little Tujunga Canyon Road in Sylmar on Wednesday stood the remains of Rancho Padilla and the carcasses of nearly 30 horses who died in the fast-moving Creek fire.
The Padilla family was there Wednesday morning, surveying the smoldering ranch that their father built more than 20 years ago. They somberly counted up the dead horses, whose charred bodies lined dozens of stalls. The family, who lives up the hill from the ranch, had awakened Tuesday to flames. One firetruck came and told them to leave.
“All I could think about was the horses, the horses, the horses. And they were like, ‘Get out, get out, get out,’ ” said Patricia Padilla, whose family owns the ranch. “The structures can get rebuilt, but the lives of the horses can’t. ... That’s my biggest heartbreak.”
The ranch, which boards horses, had more than 60 housed there, said Virginia Padilla, Patricia’s older sister. They put the count of dead horses at 29.
The family was familiar with each owner and would be calling them throughout the day to deliver the grim news and offer condolences.
On Wednesday morning, the smell of fire hung in the air and mixed with the odor of burned carcasses. Blackened horseshoes and traces of blood littered the stalls as a heavy silence blanketed the ranch. The stillness was broken only occasionally by the whinnies of a surviving horse and the crowing of a rooster.
Shelby Hope brought Oscar Martinez, a horse owner, and others up Wednesday morning to see whether the horses had survived and how she could help. She’s been coming to the ranch for about five years, to attend rodeos and spend time with friends.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
So sad..they showed last night on the news a horse that was burned 60 percent of his body..thank God it looks like he is going to make it..such beautiful creatures..RIP to these sweet horses who perished
I sympathize. I am grateful I have animals whose size and location allow me to get them quickly and take them with me in almost any home emergency scenario.
In 2016, during the Dog Head Fire in NM, the whole community worked to get horses and other livestock out of the danger area. People with trailers went repeatedly into the fire area. No animals were lost. A local ranch took them in and fed and cared for them for no cost. It’s just how we roll in the East Mountains.
Poor things
Mine are having an alfalfa snack right now in this cold snap
Awful
They so fear fire
Damn, why are these fires always starting in Cali? Is it the illegals or Islamo Nazis? I mean come on, every freakin’ year it seems to be the same thing with these fires and I know it ain’t no lighting and broken bottles doing this crap.
And the reason the owner didn’t evacuate the horses when the fire was first threatening was.... And they left them locked in their stalls with no hope of escape while they ran because....
No sympathy for these people. All sympathy for their animals.
California is pretty much desert when you get right down to it. Much of the brush actually contains oil — such as creosote — because the dry conditions preclude them retaining water. So, when the environment is dry and the winds are blowing any little spark can set off a fire. I was born and raised in Southern California, and fires were an annual thing.
>>In 2016, during the Dog Head Fire in NM, the whole community worked to get horses and other livestock out of the danger area. People with trailers went repeatedly into the fire area. No animals were lost. A local ranch took them in and fed and cared for them for no cost. It’s just how we roll in the East Mountains.<<
The logistics in that part of California are much more complex and there was very little time to do that. Most of the owners just opened the stable doors and let the horses use their instincts to flee properly.
“And they left them locked in their stalls”
That’s what PO’s me.
No reason you can’t go out and just open all the stalls and let them run for it. What’s the difference at that point?
They only had to open the barn door.
There are some personality types that are very possessive. They can’t let property run free, they gotta have everything locked up for their peace of mind. Even when they know it will end like this.
Good place to roll.....
I’m one half New Mexican which probably surprises folks given my particular southerness
Great grandpa and grandma buried in Artesia
Great uncle and aunt in vets cemtary off North Guadalupe in Santa Fe
Dad born in Artesia and his siblings in Carlsbad and Las Cruces
Mississippi folks out there building govt roads in the 20s though my great grandpa went there for asthma in 1890s while it was still territory and fairly wild
I love the state especially Chama area......
We used to own property north of Santa Fe and dad was friendly with the Murphy family who had the Pink Adobe back then
Rosalia the mom died about 7 years ago and was from New Orleans with Mississippi kin
I think her descendants just sold out for around 13 m
God bless
All they had to do was call the ASPCA-or ask some ranchers and they would have seen to it that those animals were taken out.
Sad. I hope they died quickly.
But the writer of this piece, Lordy.
Example: One firetruck came and told them to leave.
..
Who knew there was such an innovation in California? Talking firetrucks could prove quite useful.
Btw
Santa Fe is not as comfortable for conservatives as back in my youth of the 50s 60s and 70s when it was a cowboy town with Indians and art
Now it’s not hospitable to our kind
That’s what happens here too. The difference I think is the multitude of horse people and ranchers with trailers and ranches, big and small that can take them. From watching twitter mostly about the fire, the fires moved rapidly, without access for trailers to get in or enough trailers to handle the amount of livestock.
Most horse people hit the road to help in a heartbeat if they can, including just riding one out and leading others or turning them all loose.
It’s hard to say what happened here. It sounds like they waited too late do anything. The one time I had to evacuate, I had my trailer hooked up and both horses in it for an hour or so before orders came to evacuate.
It’s a beautiful place, and away from the cities people really know how to pull together.
Question
Why not just let the horses run
Mine get out on occasion
We find them or the sheriff does and our local deputy horse wrangler trailers em back
One free retrieval annually
After that it’s 250 bucks per steed
Agreed
They know how to flee fire pretty much
It’s instinctive
I can’t say they can’t get confused and still trapped on the run but usually not
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