Morgan Dedato, who works part time at Kildare Stables and boards her horse there, says if not for the few that were at the stable on Saturday this disaster could have been a lot worse.
Kristen Buchanon Goff had just finished riding in the indoor arena with her son as the fire started. She took her son to safety then ran back in to help.
When Ashley Rylski noticed the fire she immediately started throwing burning hay bales outside, in hopes to stop the fire from spreading to other bales - then used a fire extinguisher and hose. When she realized she would not be able to contain the fire she ran to move horses away from the barn. Rylski was bruised and suffered from smoke inhalation, says Dedato, but is ok.
Megan, who owns a horse at Kildare was also there helping to move horses and was treated for smoke inhalation, but is ok says Dedato.
The three women helped to get approximately 16 horses away from the building, when firefighters from Otonabee South Monaghan arrived to fight the fire.
“Step one was getting the horses as far away from the fire as they could,” said Dedato. “The fire began to spread to the surrounding fields and no one really knew where it was going.”
She says that other stables from the area began showing up with empty trailers, ready to transport horses off the property.
“The community - no questions asked started showing up to the farm and loading our horses onto their trailers.”
According to a social media post by Kildare Stables, trailers from Stillbrook Riding Stables, Endless Journeys Farm and individuals arrived and brought horses to Saddlewood Equestrian Centre where they will stay until further notice.
Once the horses were safe, Dedato says people began coming to Saddlewood with hay and food.
“The rest can all come, the horses just needed to get somewhere safe and have food and water.”
