We're on the road to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for the 2013 Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships! We have two IHSA members on the ground to bring you lots of behind-the-scenes coverage. Here is a little info about our correspondents:

Madison Harris is a senior at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, studying Business Management. As team member of the Berry Hunt Seat team, Madison has held the captain's position of Historian for 3 years as well. On top of team, riding her Appendix Quarter Horse mare, Sassie, and participating in the IHSA Media Internship, she also started and manages her own photography business called MHarris Photography. Photography and horses are two of her passions and she is incredibly excited to be helping out with the Practical Horseman coverage this year in Harrisburg.

Nicole Mandracchia has been riding for over 10 years and is a working student at James and Robin Fairclough’s Top Brass Farm in Newton, New Jersey. She helps tend to the farm's 25 driving and jumping horses. She grooms and shows at major horse shows on the East Coast, such as HITS Saugerties and Ocala, Garden State, the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show, the Pennsylvania National and Lake Placid. She attends Centenary College and is the senior captain of the IHSA team where she has been competing in the Open level for four years. Nicole is planning to graduate in May 2013 with an Equine Studies degree with a concentration in Communications.

For the latest results and information about the 2013 IHSA Nationals, click HERE. Watch live streaming of all the action HERE.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Nicole Mandracchia's Blog: Final Hunt Seat Day at IHSA Nationals: I heard one of my favorite songs, “Titanium” by Sia, come over the loudspeaker this morning while all our horses were out schooling. I sang along with it for a few bars and then turned to one of my teammates with a smile. “It’s going to be a good day—this is a good song.” He looked at me like I was crazy, but I was getting good vibes.

As the saying goes, it ain’t over until it’s over. It seemed as though Centenary’s luck finally turned around today. Senior Cori Reich won the coveted USEF/Cacchione Cup title, something she has been working very hard for. This is the third time in five years that a Centenary rider has claimed this title; graduate Lindsay Clark won it in 2009 and graduate Marissa Cohen won in 2011.

It was so stressful listening to the announcer list the riders’ names in reverse order of placing during the awards presentation. Our entire team was there to cheer for her when her name was called in first place—we were all in tears. After all the ribbon pictures were taken, we stormed into the arena and enveloped her in a group hug. There are so many of us that I’m sure it looked like a stampede! Cori is amazing and we are so proud of her.

Our Open Flat rider, junior Kathryn Haley, scored a win for us in Team Open Flat. The judges did not call the riders back for further testing like they did last year. Instead, they asked the riders to drop their stirrups to the right and perform flatwork without them, including a lengthening of stride at the canter. Katie rode beautifully and with the same grace and poise that she always has. I wish I could flat as well as she can!

That win brought us to a tie with Goucher College for 5^th overall in the team placings, which was the same placing we received last year. Being one of the top five teams in the country is pretty good and we’ll definitely take it! Skidmore and St. Lawrence deserved the win—their riders were exceptional all week. Stanford University jumped to the Reserve Championship, which was great for them! The Savannah College of Art and Design was third and Mount Holyoke was fourth.

The show always does three sportsmanship awards to recognize three individuals who have worked hard all week to make Nationals possible. Rebecca Folk of Lafayette College won the Rider Award, Erin Githens of Lafayette College won the Coach Award and Centenary’s very own Amy Gregonis won the Volunteer Award. Congratulations to them—all were very deserving!

There’s also a Horse of the Show award given to the horse that has been the most consistent all week and has been a favorite among riders and coaches. Centenary’s King won this award, and he proudly posed in the winner’s circle. He will receive free SmartPaks for a year and won a beautiful bridle, which we want him to wear in his lessons every day. Centenary has had King for 7 years, and he has been such a great addition to our program. He has taught countless riders how to ride and always comes to Nationals with us. He also does ANRC Nationals, IDA shows at Centenary, IHSA shows at Centenary and Hunter/Jumper team shows. He a professional and knows his job well.

After the award presentations, we packed up our equipment and horses to go home. This was the last IHSA show of my college career—I graduate from Centenary in two weeks. It’s so surreal and I do not know where the past four years have gone. IHSA has been a part of my college career from day 1; I have always been committed to our team. I have learned so many essential riding skills competing in IHSA shows in Zone 3, Region 3. As a captain, I’ve learned the value of teamwork and how to run horse shows successfully and efficiently. I have learned how to get the best out of my team and encourage them to work hard and never give up. I’ve made so many life-long friends that I will never forget and will always keep in touch with. And most importantly, I’ve learned horsemanship skills that will last a lifetime.

Ultimately, we had a great year and that’s all that really matters. We were undefeated, winning every show all semester and we claimed the Zone 3 Finals Championship. None of Centenary’s success would have been possible without the help of all 60 people on our team, and I thank each and every one of them for one of the best years our team has ever had. I can’t thank our coaches Michael Dowling and Heather Clark enough for all their support and dedication to the team. All those no-stirrup lessons and practices ultimately made us stronger riders. It has been an honor to work with each member of this team, and I hope that they will learn as much from IHSA as I did.

2013 IHSA Nationals ended in a tie this year between Skidmore and St. Lawrence. Both coaches had wonderful things to say about the other team. Mary Drueding (St. Lawrence): "I'd rather share than lose the title. I'm incredibly proud of Zone 2 in itself. We have strong riders, strong coaches, and we all fight until the 8th class on the last day." Belinda (Asst. Coach of Skidmore): "This was a really special camaraderie and we're both thrilled to share the title within Zone 2."

© Madison Harris

I have to share this photo of my own team, Berry College, who claimed 6th place today. On a personal note, we have fought the past three years of my college career to reach Nationals and haven't made it as a team past Zones. This year, after an undefeated season, my team made it to Nationals. I have never been a part of such a hard-working and supportive group of people before and I was proud to watch them accomplish this goal. This was probably the greatest present I could've received at the end of my senior year. Go Vikings!

© Madison Harris

King, the Dutch Warmblood from Centenary College, won Champion Hunt Seat Horse of 2013 Nationals. What a beautiful guy!

© Madison Harris

I had the chance for a quick word with Peter Leone after the Cacchione Cup final. He stated: "The Cacchione final testing was Maclay caliber of skill. All the coaches and teams should be incredibly proud of their riders. I was impressed."

© Madison Harris

We have some fantastic video footage provided from a number of sources this week!

© Madison Harris

Running the in-gate at a horse show, especially Nationals, takes a large amount of skill and multitasking. I caught our manager, Chris Mitchell, in the middle of a vary precarious situation involving the balance of coffee and calling riders.

© Madison Harris

Everyone has a tendency to stop and check out the coveted Hunt Seat National Champion trophy, I know I have a couple of times.

© Madison Harris

Meet Lucy! Lucy is a 12 year old, Dutch Warmblood, who is owned by the United States Military Academy. After speaking to her owners, Lucy was found by a friend of the family and shared with them her remarkable talent as a jumper. Lucy has been a show-favorite this week due to her floppy ears as she listens to her riders. As her owner said: "She's known for it, and sometimes you can't really help how big your head is!"

© Madison Harris

While we're here with our teammates cheering us on, we have a tendency to forget how proud our parents are of us. As our number one fans since we start our careers, countless hours are spent watching ringside. They stick with us through the highs and lows, the falls, the smiles, and most of all, the moments that matter most. I had the pleasure of capturing Flavia D'urso's father watching from the gate as Flavia received her Champion ribbon in Collegiate Open Equitation Over Fences for Skidmore College. Not a single person could help but smile as he pointed her out in excitement and pride.

© Madison Harris

The final 10 riders from the Cacchione Cup line up for the awards ceremony.

© Madison Harris

Peter Leone is present today at Nationals. Winning riders have been awarded his "Show Jumping Clinic" book as a prize here. All 10 of the Cacchione riders received a book as a token of competition. Peter is a Member of the United States Equestrian Team and has represented the United States on numerous occasions including in 1982 when he helped the U.S. finish fourth in the World Championships in Dublin, Ireland, and in 1996 when he and Crown Royal Legato were part of the USET's Silver Medal team at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.

© Madison Harris

Cori Reich, of Centenary College, becomes emotional as she is left standing in the lineup as the winner of the 2013 Cacchione Cup. After finishing 15th last year in the Cacchione Cup, Reich was ecstatic with this accomplishment. Speaking to her after the awards, she "thanked Heather and Michael for pushing her incredibly hard and expecting a lot out of her and her teammates. That's how accomplishments are made."

© Madison Harris

The Cacchione Cup is a wrap! Final standings were: Cori Reich, from Centenary (Champion), Flavia D'Urso, from Skidmore (Reserve Champion) and Blake Roberts from Virginia Intermont (Third).

© Madison Harris

Here's the mounting arena where the riders meet their horses. Afterward they make the walk through the tunnel to the competition arena.

© Madison Harris

When Obie's pupil suddenly became dilated, his owner was immediately worried.

Photo © EQUUS

Obie caught the eye of an excellent eventing trainer seeking a new prospect, and we agreed to deliver him to her farm on July 9th for an evaluation period.

Jason bathed Obie the evening before he was scheduled to leave and then, to keep him clean, placed him in a stall for the night instead of turning him back out in his dirt paddock. Noticing that the flies were bad that evening, Jason went back to the tack room, grabbed the nearest fly mask and put it on our horse.

When I arrived early the following morning, Obie came out of the stall looking great. Even with the barn lights turned off I could see that he was gleaming. He was still wearing the fly mask, and we decided to keep it in place for the trip. My trailer has stock sides, and the mask would provide protection from any debris that might come up off the road. Jason took a quick peek under the mask to make sure Obie’s eyes weren’t gooey, and since everything looked good, we loaded up and left.

We pulled into the trainer’s farm two hours later, and Obie, always a good traveler, came out looking relaxed and regal. It wasn’t until we led him into the barn and took the fly mask off that we discovered a problem: Obie’s left eye looked strangely blue. On closer inspection, we saw that the blue appearance was the result of huge dilation of the pupil.

Although more oval than round, a horse’s pupils function just as our own do: They expand to take in more light when necessary, then constrict to limit the glare in brighter conditions. And, also as in people, both of a horse’s pupils ought to be the same size at the same time. Any noticeable difference between the appearance of the pupils can be a sign of serious trouble.

That was exactly the problem confronting us: Obie’s right eye looked normal, and the left pupil was wide open and completely unresponsive to light.

No clues
My first thought was that Obie must have hit his eye or whacked his head in the trailer. But we found no other signs of trouble---no tearing, swelling, discharge or any marks that would indicate trauma. Obie didn’t appear to be in pain; he let us touch his face all around the eye without protest. In fact, he was acting perfectly normal---interested in his surroundings and even more focused on the possibility of getting some of the hay stacked in the corner. Neither Jason, the trainer nor I---all lifelong horsepeople---had ever seen anything like this.

I was truly alarmed, so we called the trainer’s veterinarian, who arrived within the hour. After her initial examination, she agreed there was no obvious sign of trauma or disease and that Obie didn’t seem to be in pain. She did offer one possibility---glaucoma, an increase of fluid pressure in the eye that is a common cause of pupil dilation. In horses, glaucoma is usually secondary to a disease such as uveitis or a tumor within the eye. If the pressure within the eye remains elevated long enough, the optic nerve can be damaged, leading to blindness. The good news was that Obie didn’t show any other signs of glaucoma, such as pain or squinting.

To get a closer look at the internal structures of the eye, the veterinarian gave Obie a dose of tranquilizer and a local anesthetic. Once the gelding was relaxed and numbed up, she examined the retina more closely and found it to be perfectly normal. She also stained the eye with a fluorescein dye, which would settle into any scratches in his cornea to appear as bright yellow streaks or spots. But the veterinarian saw no evidence of even subtle trauma.

Next, she used a small penlight to check what is known as the “consensual response.” Normally, if you shine a light into one eye, the pupils in both eyes will react in exactly the same way. If they don’t, then the horse may not have vision in the eye being tested. Fortunately, shining the light in Obie’s left eye caused his right pupil to constrict, so he still had at least some sight on the left side. But we still had no clue what was wrong---or if he was in danger of going blind.

As she finished her examination, the veterinarian was unable to make a diagnosis. Based on the clues she had, her best assumption was that the dilation of the pupil was due to some kind of trauma, despite the lack of cuts, bumps or scrapes on Obie’s face. She prescribed a course of phenylbutazone, in case there was any inflammatory process at work, and suggested that, if there was no improvement within a few days, we take Obie to the ophthalmology department at the University of California–Davis for a more thorough workup. As she packed up to leave, she told us to keep a fly mask on Obie to protect the eye---too much sunlight entering through the dilated pupil could damage the retina and create a very real danger of blindness.

A flash of insight
After conferring with the prospective buyer we decided to leave Obie at her place rather than trailer him again with this undiagnosed ailment. We were also hoping that the problem would resolve on its own, as quickly as it had appeared. Unfortunately, after three days there was no change in Obie’s pupil, so my husband and I brought him home.

Back at our place, Obie still seemed completely normal except for that ominous eye. I was worried about the possibility of sun damage, so I made a “pirate patch” by cutting up an old fly mask and sewing two extra layers on top of his existing mask. He accepted this impediment to his vision with his usual good nature. Meanwhile, I went into research mode and read up on every equine eye problem I could find on the Internet. Obie’s single sign of trouble didn’t seem to match up with anything.

I also called the ophthalmology department at UC–Davis and was put in touch with Ann R. Strom, DVM. I explained Obie’s case and asked what they could do that the trainer’s veterinarian hadn’t already done. Strom explained that the UC–Davis clinic had specialized equipment that would enable them to detect problems not visible with the tools available to a veterinarian in the field. If the physical exam turned up nothing, they would start looking for possible neurological causes, such as a brain tumor or a tumor between the eye and the brain, which could best be viewed with a CT scan. Unfortunately, the cost of all this could easily run into the thousands, which we simply couldn’t afford. I had no idea what to do.

My friend Jason had also been racking his brain, trying to think of anything he had seen or done that might offer clues. He was absolutely certain Obie’s eye had been fine after his bath on the evening before the problem was discovered. What he didn’t know was whether the eye was dilated before the trailer ride the next morning
---although he had glanced under the fly mask, it was too dark for him to have noticed any changes in the pupil.

Then Jason had a light bulb moment: He remembered that the last horse to occupy the stall Obie had been in was a mare who was being treated for an eye problem. He dug through the ranch’s medical records and discovered that six weeks previously, this mare had sustained an injury to her left eye. She had been treated with atropine ointment, a powerful and long-lasting drug used to dilate the pupil. Could that horse have rubbed her medicated eye on something in the stall, something that Obie then rubbed on, too, causing him to get some residual atropine into his eye? It didn’t seem entirely implausible.

Jason and I ran this scenario by several veterinarians, all of whom seemed to think the idea was too far-fetched. My own veterinarian, Jen Powers, DVM, of Above and Beyond Animal Care in Redding, California, was also dubious, but she didn’t discount the idea entirely: “I think it’s highly unlikely, but stranger things have happened.”

Powers, like Strom, mentioned the possibilities of glaucoma or a tumor, although she agreed that it would be unusual for a horse to have either condition without showing any additional signs of trouble. She was fairly sure that the dilation was not due to trauma. In her 18 years of experience as an equine veterinarian, she said, she had never seen a traumatic eye injury with a dilated pupil as the only sign. Any blow severe enough to cause the pupil to dilate that much should have caused some other obvious injury to the head or eye itself.

If exposure to atropine had caused the dilation, Powers said, we would start to see gradual improvement within seven to 10 days of the initial exposure, although it could take a couple of weeks to fully resolve.

Jason then contacted us with another important clue: After consulting with his staff, he discovered that the fly mask he had put on Obie that night was very likely the same one the injured mare had worn during the course of her treatment. We found no sign of any ointment on the mask, but it seemed more plausible that he might have come in contact with residue from the fly mask than from some random spot in the stall.

With this news, my husband and I decided to wait a few more days to see if Obie’s eye showed any improvement. If it didn’t, we were going to have to bite the bullet and haul him to Davis.

Back to normal
To our joy, we found that the dilation of Obie’s left pupil did begin to subside, all on its own, exactly one week after that fly mask was first put on him. The progress was slow, but the eye continued to improve day by day.

On July 19, the 10th day after the trouble began, I emailed Powers a photo of Obie’s eye and asked if she felt it was OK to continue to wait or whether we should go ahead and take him to Davis. She responded, “The amount of dilation Obie shows at this point is not severe, which decreases my fears of glaucoma, tumor or blindness. I think you are fine to wait another week.”

We continued to see improvement with each passing day, and by July 21, his pupil was able to constrict enough that we felt we could safely remove the extra layers of material on his fly mask, and five days later, his eye seemed completely normal again. The entire ordeal had lasted 18 days.

Powers now agrees that atropine was the most likely cause of this strange problem. “Without the stimulation of pain [there was no injury] or light [due to the eye patch], there was no stimulus for the pupillary muscles, so it is possible for the effects of atropine to have lasted this long,” she told me. “The atropine theory is also supported by the resolution course and the story of the fly mask---a good example of why it is important to wash and disinfect shared items!”

I am happy to report that Obie now shows no sign of having ever had a problem with his eye, and he has a wonderful new home.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue 424.

“Amish, you dumb dog,” yells rancher Ed Hanks. “Get back!”
Amish cowers. The cow bolts, jumps a fence, and that’s that. Nothing could have stopped this frustrating scene from unfolding. Hanks is red with anger.

“I’m going to kill that cow,” he grumbles. This renegade cow has been giving him hell, evading him for two years. On another attempt the day prior, I’d seen her jump a four-foot fence like a deer.

“I never carry a gun when I gather cattle,” Hanks had casually remarked to me over his shoulder earlier as we rode across the northern Bradshaw Mountains. “I’d likely shoot a dog.”   There’s no doubt in my mind that Hanks, had he been armed, would have shot (or shot at) his beloved corgi this morning and possibly the cow, too.

Spend any time on a ranch, and you’ll quickly see that to earn a living, a cowboy needs to draw on a broad skill set—including self-restraint. He or she works the livestock market to buy low and sell high, farms hay, tracks animals, and repairs and maintains all manner of equipment: leather, metal, wood, and mechanical. Cowboys practice most forms of veterinary care, short of outright surgery, and deftly employ psychology to train and move animals. Perhaps not cosmopolitan, ranchers are savvy observers of nature, picking up chemistry (soil analysis), botany (the nutritive value of different feeds), and hydrodynamics (swales, berms, and ponds) to fit their land into—and maximize—an ecosystem.These were my essential impressions of Hanks. During the week I spent at the Arizona Cowboy College to, um, beef up my ranch skills, the guy showed himself to be overwhelmingly competent—an army of one. But boy did he have a temper.

Faced with a conundrum of ranching life, he’d spit his stock phrase before getting down to business: “What in the hell!?”
This morning, he regroups and continues sorting the cattle and newborns we’d gathered then sends us off to survey his lower pens and watering holes. When we return many hours later, Hanks is scratching his head before a corral. There stands the renegade cow’s yearling, bawling for its mother. It turns out the wild cow hadn’t bolted far, and Hanks had been able to quietly urge her and the yearling to join their friends.

“She jumped and got caught up,” he says, motioning to a pretzel of a panel. “Thought I was going to have to butcher her. Ran for my gun, but she was gone when I got back.”

Riding flank, Triangle M.

Americans are too fond of hamburgers to allow maverick cattle free passage. Hanks will eventually outsmart his livestock and win this game of patience and perseverance. But no one ever claimed that cowboying was easy, and that’s why I came. I’m a desk jockey by trade. Though my wife and I own five acres and a fledgling equine-assisted therapy business, my sensibilities are more computer than cow. The six-day Arizona Cowboy College is designed for people like me who want to go beyond the dude ranch. Call it cowboy boot camp. The trail rides here actually have a purpose, like gathering up cattle or counting cow-calf pairs. I’m a game enough ranch hand and can work a shovel and a post-hole digger and toss hay bales with the best of ’em, but this program expanded my field of view. It taught me to look beyond the task at hand and to respond better to the animals and land in my care.

Rocco Wachman and Lori Bridwell  run the Arizona Cowboy College from Bridwell Ranch near Scottsdale, Arizona, with a Wednesday to Saturday visit to Schmidt Ranch in Seven Springs, Arizona, serving as the final exam. (Hanks’ Triangle M ranch is no longer in regular use.) A cowboy evangelist of sorts, Wachman hosted the program Cowboy U for six seasons on Country Music Television, for which he once rode a horse under the spinning blades of a helicopter. He has appeared on the Biggest Loser with Dr. Oz, where he lost 51 pounds, and occasionally serves as a personality or speaker at various events, like the 100-year anniversary of the Oklahoma Land Rush at the Flying W Ranch in Sayer, Oklahoma.

“Train a horse, and you’ll quickly learn to never ignore bad behavior. Or you might as well be rewarding it,” he tells me in one of our first encounters. A former grocer from New York, Wachman had a come-to-Jesus moment 20 years ago when his grocery chain moved him to the Phoenix area and a friend got him into riding. By training a horse, he was himself trained to listen and learn in an entirely new way. He was a changed man. These days, Wachman signs his emails: “The cowboy knew his life had a purpose. It was a gift from God to be steward of the land, livestock, and the people he loved.” It’s a sentiment fully expressed at the college and in his book, Cowboy: The Ultimate Guide to Living Like a Great American Icon (Harper Paperbacks, 2010).

“Cowboying is not a job, it’s a state of mind,” he likes to say, and from day one Wachman had us doing barn chores and practicing ranch safety. “I need to teach you, so I don’t get hurt.”
For three days, we rode slalom around saguaros and learned to shoe and care for horses. (“Any chance I can get to practice my craft,” is another of his sayings.) Then six of us, four clients and two instructors, set off for the hills in a Ford 350 Powerstroke, hauling a six-horse trailer stuffed to the gills with four leggeds, tack, camping gear, and food. Air conditioning on full blast, we roar out of the Phoenix basin and climb from 2,500 to 4,500 feet near Prescott.

As we cross the Agua Fria River, Wachman melodically recites one of his favorite poems, Sancho, by R.W. Hampton: “In the Arizona desert where the tall saguaros grow; Where the Purple Bradshaw Mountains rise and the Agua Fria flows; Down in a lonesome sand wash where no man should ever go; A buzzard picks the sun-bleached bones of a horse that I called Sancho…”

Lashes the horse at sunset.

My first sight of Hanks is of a wiry man bent to his work, shoeing a rank mare.

“What ya doin’?” Wachman asks playfully, jumping out of the truck.

Usually quick with a glib response, Hanks smiles and shakes his head but recovers quickly, “Well, I could have shaved with the old ones,” he says. Ask him how he slept, and he’ll say, “lying down.” Or how he feels? “With my hand.” Or where he wants that salt block? “On the ground.”

Not long after we unload the animals and set up camp, Hanks comes over to visit. Wachman gives him a new rope as a thank you for having us, and Hanks deftly spins it through his hands, feeling its weight.

“Does it catch?” he asks. Hanks can go weeks without seeing anyone but his wife and a neighbor or two, so he’s delighted to have company. We get to talking about the wisdom of breeding older mares for the first time. (A bad idea, unless you’re planning to breed her several times. A mare’s first and last foals are typically her worst.) He speaks in the measured, thoughtful way of someone who has all the time in the world. We spend the next three days horseback six to eight hours a day, gathering with Hanks. His 30-acre spread and 36,000-acre lease is steep and rocky. He had to spend his first year on the property hauling water, installing watering troughs, and repairing many, many miles of fence.
John, one of the college’s clients, displays the “when not if” axiom about riders eventually falling off their horses. A wandering mind and an unfriendly tree branch had knocked him on his butt.

“Are you hurt?” Hanks calls back.
John would never have answered “yes” to this cowboy, even if he’d broken his femur. Remounted, we ride on and “mash rocks” and “bash brush” past Indian ruins and blooming cacti to survey the cattle. Hanks pulls a tiny notepad from his breast pocket whenever he sees one.

“If I see a bull a few times without cows, he’s gone,” he says. Hanks grew up in Boulder County, Colorado, and has been ranching all his life. His father ran cattle, too. It’s in his blood. He was even an extra in a Western, the Father Keno Story.

“You’ve got to farm what you see,” he comments about working with nature, perhaps harkening to his Indian ancestry. Hanks has Hopi blood from his mom’s side and Cherokee from his dad’s. He smokes a steady stream of Marlboros, of course, and likes to point out “bald-headed crows” (Bald eagles).
Rocco and his string boss, Elaine Pawlowski, meanwhile, carry cell phones, which they answer regularly. When your office is a saddle, you make due.

“The fastest way to move a cow is slow,” says Hanks. “Otherwise, all you do is chase.” And work the weight off them. He’s also adamant that ranching benefits the desert.

“Cattle improve watering holes,” he insists. “Their hoofs aerate the soil and promote plant growth.” Who else is going to care for all this acreage? The BLM could never pay staff to do what ranchers oversee themselves on the nation’s hundreds of millions of acres of public land.

In the evenings, we practice roping. (Pawlowski, a former Chicago firefighter, dismisses my technique: “You throw like a girl.”) Come nightfall, we sit around a fire corralled in an oil drum and nestle the cowboy microwave (aka Dutch oven) into the coals. The stories meander, as we ogle the constellations in the darkness.

Back in Scottsdale, Wachman takes me to the Scottsdale Gun Club, a nondescript box store in an ocean of air-conditioned  malls. The clothes and home décor you might have expected inside have been replaced by a deadly arsenal. I’m asked to watch a five-minute safety video then handed a 45-mm Magnum revolver, ammunition, and ear protection and pointed to the indoor shooting range.

To my left, a young woman in a tank top and flip flops fires an array of weapons with her boyfriend. To my right, a small child fires his rifle with an instructor. I raise a handgun for the first time in my life and fire booming reports at the human-shaped target.

“You’re a natural,” Wachman encourages and gives me tips.

He holsters a loaded Ruger Vaquero .45 Colt at all times and brought a cannon-like Smith & Wesson AR15 to the Triangle M. “It’s a matter of principle,” he explains.

The funny thing about Wachman is that he’s a cowboy by choice, not birth. This former New York grocer is particularly keen for the Cowboy Way, because it’s given him so much. He believes whole-heartedly that nothing could be more natural—more American—than to re-imagine yourself and make a better life. That’s the promise of the West: new beginnings.
Describing the cowboy’s lot in life, Wachman says: “Failure is not an option.” No one pays a rancher for effort. He must deliver sound cows. Period. Successful cowboys show results. The rest quit.

For my part, I can now rope my dog with ease, and I can fork a horse long after it has stopped being comfortable. Though I’ll likely never be faced with producing livestock to survive, the time I spent in Arizona taught me not to be a nuisance on a ranch and to perhaps lend a hand—better than Amish the corgi, at least.

This morning we woke up extra early to get all the horses done before they shipped to Chantilly. First, I had a lesson on Mika with Wilton on Pal. Katie set some difficult bending lines off the turns. There was a tight double vertical one stride that could be a bending five or direct four to a skinny gate oxer or, if you turned the other way, a wide eight to a plain oxer. You could also jump the water straight on tight five to the double verticals. So basically it was a series of bending lines with difficult striding.

Mika has a pretty strong right drift, so fitting in the curving five from the skinny to the double was really difficult as it bent right. However, the wide eight was not so hard from the oxer to the double because it was going left. I always have to think ahead before I do courses with him to plan how his drift will help or hurt my course plan. He always normally adds anyway, so it was easier for him than it was for Wilton's horse Pal. Pal is the opposite of Mika. He likes to bid and he goes left. So the eight was much more difficult for him than the five was. It's really interesting to see different horses doing the same lines! We jumped big as it was Mika's last school before this week's 5 star. He jumped really really well--perfect little Wuby!

Next I had what felt like an extremely long flat lesson with Henri on Onisha without stirrups. If I had to choose any horse at the farm in Rosiers to ride without stirrups, the last one would be Onisha. My grooms all find it hilarious because the last time I rode her without stirrups was a very long time ago, and it was very funny for all who watched. Squishy is a hot and sensitive type and does not like to really be sat on, much less bounced repeatedly on. So she pretty much makes her back like piece of plywood causing me to only bounce harder. It is a vicious cycle. After I felt like my legs were about to fall off and Squishy's back was about to cave in, Henri finally decided I had been tortured enough and I could move on to my last jumping lesson.

We jumped Cylana over the same lines as Mika. One mistake I made during the trials was in Kentucky on the last day from the water to the double liverpools. It was either a huntery five or a very tight six, I believe. I should have done the five but going second I decided the six was safer. Now someone going to the Olympics should be able to do BOTH well, and so needless so say I have jumped this line many, many, many, many, MANY times since then. I probably will until my dying day. That includes today. Cylana is a big girl and I'm pretty small so it is important in our training that she stays extremely adjustable and responsive to me. Obviously, though I try to build up my strength in my own training, I am not as strong as big Bertha! So I practiced and practiced until she was like an accordion. Her mouth and jump were absolutely perfect today and it was a great, great, great school.

While the girls loaded up the equipment and the horses, I ran home and finished up my packing. Tracey, my barn manager, picked me up and we hit the road! Tracey is my absolute favorite driving companion. Even the longest drives fly by with her in the car. What is hilarious about Tracey is her favorite songs always have lots of "oohs aaahs" and "nahnahnahs" in them so it is very fun to sing along in the car together. She loves Britney Spears, Alphabeat, Lilly Allen, Kelly Clarkson, and more. The five hours went by fairly quickly and we soon arrived in Chantilly!

I showed here last year and it has the most beautiful backdrop of the chateau and the stables. I was super excited to meet my mom and together we bedded up stalls for the horses to arrive. Cylana and Onisha are stabling near by at my friend Dalma Mahlas' farm while Mika and Goose are at the show working hard! It was a fun reunion arriving. We got to see Lee (McLain's manager), Katie Dinan, Cassie Holmes and Catherine Pasmore who I hadn't seen in ages!

Mom and I headed to the very nice rider's hotel, the Dolce and got all settled in. Tomorrow morning is the jog and there's a warm up class in the afternoon. I'm excited to get showing again!

I was born in a different century. What with computers, cell phones, jet airplanes and all, I am continually reminded of this. I have been connected with horses all my life and have lived through some changes with the sport. For this month’s column, I thought I would take a look back, and tell you about some of the things I have seen along the way. I feel that I have an unusual vantage point, because I literally grew up with the US Equestrian Team.

I was born and raised on Rimrock Farm, a horse farm in Kansas. It backed up to Fort Riley, which was the home of the US Cavalry between 1920 and 1945. This meant that I had thousands of acres of short-grass prairie to ride over, and I had some hair-raising experiences out there with my four-legged friend, Tiny Blair. I can remember riding out onto the military reservation early in the morning, dressed in blue jeans, ragged T-shirt, high-topped tennis shoes and no helmet, carrying a fishing pole, with a rifle tied to one side of the saddle and a gunnysack full of PBJ sandwiches and Dr. Pepper tied to the other. Basically a one-man (boy) crime wave on horseback.

My family had an unusual connection with the Olympics, so I have always remembered things based on the Olympic quadrennial. My father rode on the 1932 Olympic show-jumping team in Los Angeles and was reserve on the team in 1936. The first Olympics I remember were in London in 1948. The US Army was still in charge of all three Olympic equestrian disciplines, so the riders were all officers, the horses were for the most part owned by the Army, and the grooms and farriers were all enlisted men. Master Sgt. Harry Cruzan was Maj. F.F. Wing’s groom then, and I remember him telling me that they had a heavy wooden trunk for each horse, an additional one for the vet, one for the farrier ... and one full of whiskey! I think whiskey played a larger part in those people’s lives than it does now, which is progress.

The 1936 US Olympic team included (from left): Capt. Earl “Tommy” Thomson, Lt. R.W. Curtis, Capt. M.H. Matteson, Col. Isaac Leonard Kitts, Capt. John Willems, Capt. Carl Raguse, Capt. Stanley Babcock, Capt. C.C. Jadwin, Col. Hiram Tuttle, Capt. W.B. Bradford.

It is worth noting that it was common in that era for young officers to ride in more than one discipline. Gen. Guy V. Henry, later Chief of Staff, US Cavalry, rode in both dressage and show-jumping in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. In 1932, Gen. Harry D. Chamberlin won the individual silver medal in show-jumping and was on the gold-medal eventing team. In 1948, Gen. Frank S. Henry won the team gold and individual silver medals in eventing and a team silver in dressage, becoming only the second US rider to ever medal in two Olympic disciplines. If you asked me what is the biggest change I have observed since then, that would be my answer ... that riders these days are specialists.

Years later, I commented to my mother that team selection was getting more and more competitive. “You have no idea” she told me. During Prohibition, the Army Horse Show team would go up to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. The horses would ship up on special trains, and the team would always take a certain horse who wasn’t much “’count” when it came to jumping, but he was hell to kick, and no customs officer in his right mind would get in the stall with him. On the way up to Toronto, they would store their hay behind Widowmaker, and on the way back down they would build a wall of hay that concealed a year’s supply of whiskey for all concerned. “You just think teams are competitive these days,” my mother said. “Those young officers would have killed each other for a chance at a year’s supply of whiskey!”

I was only 3 years old during the 1948 London Olympics, so I remember very little of that time. I do recall that the damage done by the Blitz was still evident everywhere, and rationing was still in effect, so my mother had brought an extra steamer trunk full of Hershey’s chocolate bars, silk stockings, and other delicacies and necessities. She also brought a case of rice, which had been unavailable since 1939. Fortunately, I found a way to jigger the lock on the trunk and break into the chocolate stash, so I stayed sugar-buzzed for the entire trip. While Gen. Humberto Mariles was winning the gold medal in show-jumping on Arete, I snuck into the enclosure at the base of the Olympic flame tower in Wembley Stadium to do what little boys do. A horrified English bobbie, helmet and all, chased me over the fence, calling me a “horrid little boy.” He did not know how right he was.

Horses who travel frequently to shows or other events face a double set of risk factors: Not only will they be exposed to a large number of unfamiliar horses, but the stresses of traveling and performing lower immunityand leave them more susceptible to any germs they encounter. What’s more, the conditions in the trailer itself can leave horses prone to shipping fever, a respiratory infection aggravated by inhaled dust. Here are some ways to minimize the risk of illness:

Before you go
• Tell your veterinarian that you plan to take your horse to events and ask her to develop a vaccination schedule that will protect him against the pathogens he may encounter.
• Make sure your horse is healthy. An ill horse can not only spread disease, but his condition may worsen considerably as a result of the stress of travel. In addition, a horse who has just recovered from an illness may have a weakened immune system.

In the trailer
• Sweep out all dried manure, hay and other organic debris before loading your horse. Hose down walls, floors and interior fixtures, and scrub off any stains.
• Make sure your trailer is well ventilated.
• Tie your horse loosely enough to be able to drop his head below the level of his shoulder, which will help him to clear dust from his respiratory tract.
• Soak hay to minimize the dusts kicked up during the trip.

At the event
• Spray down the walls and fixtures in the showground stall with disinfectant before placing your horse in it. Several commercial solutions come in spray bottles that are easy to transport. Discuss disinfectant choices with your veterinarian.• Use only your own equipment, including buckets, bits, muck buckets and rakes, and brushes. If someone borrows something of yours, disinfect it before using it with your horse again.
• Avoid tying your horse to communal posts or walls where others might have rubbed their noses.
• Discourage visitors from petting your horse.
• Do not allow your horse to have nose-to-nose contact with others or to drink from communal water troughs.
• Monitor the horse’s temperature twice a day. Alert the official veterinarian and managers of fevers.

Back at home
• Keep a traveling horse separate from the resident herd for at least two weeks. It’s especially important to keep frequent travelers apart from pregnant mares and foals.
• Disinfect rakes, buckets and other tools before putting them back in service on the farm.
• Continue monitoring your horse’s temperature twice daily for another week or two.
• Call your veterinarian right away if you notice any signs of illness, including fever, runny nose, coughs and listlessness.

An effective quarantine meets a basic goal: to prevent healthy horses from having contact with an ill horse or any surface—including human hands and clothing as well as buckets, brushes, fences and stall walls—that he has touched.

Few of us have the space and resources to move sick or exposed horses to a barn distant from our main stables and assign to them caretakers who never have contact with the rest of the herd. Nonetheless, an effective quarantine can be implemented on a smaller scale with a little creativity. Here are the points to address:

• Stall space. If a separate barn is not available, place the isolated horse in a stall at the end of the aisle farthest from the door that gets the most traffic, and leave at least one stall empty between him and the other residents. Use fans to direct airflow away from the quarantine area and out the back door rather than toward the other stalls. If your barn receives frequent visitors, post signs warning them not to approach or touch the quarantined horse.

• Turnout. Separation of the ill or exposed horse needs to be maintained at turnout as well as in the barn. Ideally, his turnout area would be downwind, far from the other horses, and would not share a fence with other turnout areas. If you have only one pasture, you could use temporary fencing to cordon off a section for the quarantined horse. But you’ll need to put up a double fence line, with each side separated by at least 10 feet, to prevent nose-to-nose contact. Another option is to alternate turnout times—bringing the quarantined horse in during the day and turning him out at night when the others are inside—but this poses the risk that the healthy horses will come in contact with secretions from the ill horse. Ask your veterinarian what’s best for your horse and facility based on the disease agent.

• Care protocols. If it’s not possible to designate one person to care exclusively for the sick horse, then the person who does the chores needs to finish with all of the healthy horses before moving on to the isolated one, and dispose of his manure away from other animals. “A sick horse in quarantine is placed on ‘barrier precautions,’” says Gary Magdesian, DVM, biosecurity and infection control officer for the large-animal clinic at the University of California–Davis. “This means he should be handled with disposable gloves, protective clothing, hair coverings and separate foot covers or boots.” One way to accomplish this is to keep a designated set of coveralls, gloves and boots you put on only when caring for the ill horse; you can also buy washable surgical scrubs or disposable protective gowns, shoe covers, latex gloves and other items used by health-care workers. Your veterinarian or physician can help you find sources.

• Equipment. Keep a separate set of all equipment used to care for the isolated horse. “All stall-cleaning equipment, buckets and halters should be separated and used only on the infected horse,” says Magdesian. Remember that pathogens can travel on tractor and wheelbarrow tires as well. That means it may be necessary to scrub down tires and other contaminated surfaces with a bleach solution. “A disinfecting footbath should be placed outside of the stall, and the aisleway should be roped off to minimize traffic,” Magdesian says, adding that, above all else: “Hands must be sanitized or washed after handling the horse.”

• Monitoring and logistics. If you’re handling a horse with a contagious disease that could spread beyond your farm, your veterinarian will advise you on any other measures you might need to take. For example, you may be asked to keep your horses on the farm: “Movement of horses off the property should cease,” says Magdesian. “Consider all other horses in the same barn as potentially exposed and begin monitoring their body temperature twice daily. Gloves should be worn even with other horses in the same barn and hands should be disinfected or washed after handling them as well.”

Confining sick horses in a quarantine stall protects the health of his barnmates.

EHV Outbreak.
Horses Euthanatized.
Farms Quarantined.
Travel Restricted.
Shows Cancelled.

Headlines like these will catch any horse owner’s attention---usually, we all hope, with a sigh of relief that the outbreak is somewhere far away.

But that’s not always the case. Outbreaks of EHV-1, which may involve a potentially fatal strain of the equine herpesvirus that can produce neurological impairment, are not uncommon. The virus might crop up on one farm or a small cluster of farms somewhere in the country every year. Under the right circumstances, however, the outbreak can become widespread. When the disease appeared at the National Cutting Horse Association’s Western National Championships in Ogden, Utah, in the spring of 2011, each one of the 400 horses in attendance had some risk of exposure---and the threat wasn’t identified until all had returned to farms and ranches across 19 Western states.

For weeks that May, a number of shows and events were cancelled, and several barns and state veterinary hospitals were put under quarantine as new outbreaks cropped up in state after state from Washington to New Mexico. By the time the USDA-APHIS (United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) declared the virus “contained” in late June, 33 cases of myeloencephalopathy caused by EHV infection had been confirmed in 10 states; 26 of those horses had attended the event in Ogden, Utah, and 13 died or were put down.

Yet officials say the 2011 EHV outbreak could have been far worse. Prompt action on the part of state and local animal health officials, veterinarians, event organizers and---most important---horse owners helped halt the spread of the virus.

If EHV or another contagious equine disease broke out near your property, would you know what to do? By establishing a plan now, and having a few basic materials and supplies on hand, you could not only protect the lives of your own horses, you could help prevent the next outbreak from growing into an epidemic.  A good biosecurity program need not be difficult or complex. In fact, your normal management practices are probably already covering most of the bases. Still, it’s a good idea to review your routines periodically just to make sure you’re not leaving any gaps, and to make plans for what you’d do in the event of a real emergency. Your veterinarian will help you tailor a program to your individual needs. Here’s where you can start.

Keep vaccinations up to date
Vaccination is an inexpensive but effective way to prevent your horse from contracting several serious diseases. The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) recommends that all horses receive vaccines against a “core” group of diseases: tetanus, eastern/western equine encephalomyelitis, West Nile virus and rabies. An additional eight vaccines are available for horses at risk of encountering diseases such as Potomac horse fever, strangles or EHV.

Which of these risk-based vaccinations a horse needs depends on several factors, including his geographic location, age and activities. Those who are frequently transported to horse shows, for example, require more protection than most “homebodies,” and the needs of a pregnant mare are different from those of a retired gelding.

Your veterinarian is your best resource for creating a vaccination protocol tailored to your horse. Especially if you’ve made any significant management or lifestyle changes in recent years, ask her to review your routine to make sure you’re still providing the appropriate protection for your horse.

Practice good daily hygiene
A number of diseases---including rhinopneumonitis, strangles and equine influenza---can be passed from horse to horse on human hands and with shared tack and equipment. Here are several tips for reducing the chances that you’ll inadvertently spread an illness around your barn:

• Wash your hands after handling each horse. Cleansing your hands is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to avoid spreading infections. Develop the habit of washing with soap regularly, and consider installing wall-mounted dispensers of hand sanitizer between stalls or in other strategic locations. If your barn receives visitors, post signs to discourage the practice of going from stall to stall to pet each horse in turn.

• Scrub water buckets and automatic waterers regularly. Keep one dedicated brush for each bucket. Also, never let the end of the hose touch the surface of the water as you fill the bucket.

• Keep equipment separate. Ideally, each horse will have his own dedicated grooming brushes, blankets and sheets, bits and other items. Colored duct tape is a good way to mark each item to help avoid mix-ups---assign each horse his own color and use it to “tag” all of his equipment. Also, avoid sharing items with strange horses at shows or other events.

• Disinfect equipment periodically. Practically everything that touches your horse picks up bacteria and other pathogens as well as dirt and grime. Machine washables, such as towels, blankets and saddle pads, can be disinfected in regular laundry cycles, but some higher end washers now feature sanitization cycles, which use steam or extra high heat to kill even more bacteria. Buckets, hoof picks and other impermeable objects can be disinfected with soapy water, bleach or other commercial cleaners (see “How To: Disinfect Buckets, Brushes and Other Tools,” opposite). Sponges are difficult to disinfect. Discard and replace them whenever they get dirty.

• Control rodents. Rats can carry several diseases that affect both horses and people. Keep grain bins sealed, and promptly clean up any feed spills to deter vermin. Barn owls, cats and other predators will help keep populations down.

• Manage manure responsibly. Some pathogens may be passed via contact with manure. Pick up wastes daily, and avoid tracking it around with your boots or wheelbarrow wheels. If you are caring for a sick horse, place a disinfectant footbath at your barn entrance. To make one, place AstroTurf or a textured welcome mat in a shallow basin and cover it with a 10 percent chlorine bleach solution. Then, step into it to scrub the organic material off the bottom of your boots as you enter and exit the barn, changing the footbath water as it becomes dirty.

Quarantine new or sick horses
A number of contagious diseases can be spread directly from horse to horse. “Modes of transmission include direct contact, inhalation, oral [ingestion], via open wounds or bites and venereal contact,” says Roberta M. Dwyer, DVM, professor at Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center.

If you have a stable herd---a group of horses who live together and travel infrequently---chances are you’ll need to implement quarantine measures under only two circumstances: when you actually have a sick horse, and when you introduce a new horse.

Horses exposed to a number of common equine diseases may show no signs for a week or more, yet they are capable of passing the pathogens on to others. For example, a horse can easily be exposed to strangles or rhinopneumonitis at an auction, then carry the disease to the herd at his new home.

“New horses should be quarantined for at least two weeks prior to joining the herd,” says Dwyer. “Two weeks covers the incubation period for many equine infectious diseases, like influenza.” If the horse has a vague history or you’re unsure about his vaccination status, it’s wise to extend the isolation period to at least 21 days.

“New horses should have their temperatures taken twice daily for early detection of disease,” says Dwyer. Call your veterinarian at the first sign of fever. It’s also a good idea to monitor the temperatures of your resident horses during this time.

Another risk occurs when you have some horses who always stay at home but share space with others who do go to shows. The traveler could easily pick up an illness and spread it to the rest of the herd before you know he’s sick.

Have an action plan ready
To avoid wasting time in the event of a disease outbreak, establish an action plan. Keep on hand equipment and products that are necessary to clean and disinfect stalls, including plastic booties, gloves and protective coveralls. Consider how you would manage the practical aspects of isolating one or more members of your herd, and make sure you have ready access to your horse’s veterinary records, particularly his vaccination history.

Once you’ve developed a plan for dealing with sick horses, make sure everyone else who has access to your farm or works in your barn knows the procedures, too. Either meet with individuals informally or schedule a training session so that everyone knows how to recognize the first signs of illness and what to do if they spot something.

If an outbreak occurs in your area, get your information from reliable sources. Be wary of social media: When people panic, rumors run rife. Instead, rely on your veterinarian, your state veterinarian’s office or your state’s department of agriculture for updates. Sources like these will have websites with pages dedicated to news releases and alerts. Find the sites likely to cover your area, and bookmark them in a dedicated folder so you’ll be able to find them quickly in an emergency. Don’t forget to include the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) at www.aphis.usda.gov.

Keep in mind that, even if a disease outbreak in your region does not affect your farm directly, equine transport may be restricted. You’ll find updates and bulletins on the state or federal websites.

Last year’s EHV-1 outbreak is behind us. It was contained in part due to the efforts of the National Cutting Horse Association’s quick response in spreading the word and voluntarily canceling events. But the countless individual owners, who heeded the warnings and kept their horses home, helped prevent a handful of cases from growing into a widespread epidemic.

Given the nature of this virus as well as other contagious diseases, similar outbreaks are certain to happen again. While you can’t guarantee your horse will never get sick, you can take steps to minimize his risks and the threat of the illness spreading. And that will benefit not just the residents of your own barn, but also the welfare of horses all around your state.

Around midday on January 19, 2012, breeder and trainer Julie Winkel looked out from her office at Maplewood Stables in Reno, Nevada, and saw a thick haze of smoke to the south. The wind was strong and the area had seen little rain or snow, so she was on alert for wildfires and realized that this one could blow her way. She immediately called her barn staff and told them to get ready to evacuate the 150-acre property.

“Within five minutes, we saw the fire coming over the hill,” Julie says, “and within half an hour my house had burned to the ground.” But Julie, her staff and her horses were safe. Thanks to good planning, quick action and support from the Reno horse community, 50 horses were evacuated from the property.

If fire breaks out at your horse’s barn, will he be so lucky? Barn fires spread so fast that there’s often not enough time to halter horses and lead them to safety. “Firefighters tell us that many times by the time they get to the fire, the barn is totally quiet because the animals are overcome by smoke,” says Rebecca Gimenez, who trains firefighters for emergencies involving horses. Planning and prevention are essential, fire and safety pros like Rebecca say, and in this article they explain how you can keep your horse from becoming a casualty statistic. Even if you board him at someone else’s barn, there are steps you can take.

Fire Facts
There were more than 200 fires in U.S. and Canadian horse barns last year, ­according to the log kept by barn-fire expert Laurie Loveman on her website, www.firesafetyinbarns.com. Among them was the Memorial Day-weekend blaze that killed six horses and destroyed eventing trainer Boyd Martin’s barn at True Prospect Farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Boyd’s Olympic prospect Neville Bardos was trapped inside until Boyd and True Prospect owner Phillip Dutton dragged him, burned and choking, out of the burning barn. Four other horses also made it out.

The first months of 2012 brought more disastrous stable fires. Twenty-two horses died in January when flames destroyed an indoor arena with attached stabling at Heritage Acres in Lafayette Township, New Jersey. By the time the predawn fire was discovered, the metal doors were too hot to touch—rescue was impossible. In February a fire killed 27 Thoroughbreds—yearlings, 2-year-olds and stallions—at Campbell Stables in Grass Lake, Michigan. Firefighters arrived to find the barn engulfed in flames; the horses trapped inside had no chance.

Like most barn fires, these fires started accidentally. A typical horse barn is stuffed with everything a fire needs, including plenty of fuel (hay, bedding, wood timbers) and, often, materials such as gasoline and aerosol cans that act as accelerants, speeding the spread of flames. All it takes is a spark to set it off.

Electrical problems—faulty wiring or misuse of electrical equipment—are the most common cause, Laurie says. Lightning strikes, sparks or heat from machines and equipment and heat buildup in stored hay or straw can start a fire. So can careless acts like smoking in or near a barn. The wildfire that swept through Maplewood started accidentally when an elderly man living several miles to the south put hot fireplace ashes outside. Fanned by near-hurricane-force winds, it ripped across more than six square miles and destroyed 29 homes before firefighters brought it under control.

Once fire starts in a barn, it can spread incredibly fast. “Most barns are fully involved within seven to ten minutes from the initial outbreak of flames and on the ground within fifteen to twenty minutes,” says Rebecca. The True Prospect fire followed a common sequence. Chester County fire officials say it started accidentally at ground level, traveled up into the hayloft and from there quickly raced through the structure.

To give your horse a chance against a threat like that, his home should be designed, built and run in ways that minimize fire risk.