Mrs. Ashley and Olivia: 11.27.14 When Your World is Forever Changed

It's one of those moments I'll remember forever. I'll remember where I was, what I was doing, and the overwhelming feelings I felt.

Chad and I went with my family to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. We dropped our two pups off at the barn and headed out of town. My best friend (and asst trainer) was staying at our house for the weekend and was taking care of the dogs while we were out of town.

I remember the feeling waking up and seeing two missed calls on my phone and a text that said "I need you to call me.". She never calls me. We always text, all day every day. It was an immediate feeling of 'something is wrong'.

Never in a million years did I expect to hear what she said on the other end of the phone.

"Olivia is OK but there was a fire. The barn is gone. The barn burned down." I get chills just writing that. I don't remember much of the rest of the conversation because it was nothing more than sobs. We discussed the logistics of where the surviving horses were being moved and that the vet was going to evaluate Olivia as she had a puncture wound on her FL knee. And then she told me about the ones who didn't make it, the ones who were released from their stalls but were too scared to come out, how our heroic guys went in as far as they could to release client horses while knowing their own were trapped. It's a horrific nightmare that will never be released from my memory.

Below are some news articles with photos. It's the type of thing I just don't want to post pictures of on here.

Horses Killed in Woodstock Barn Fire
Cherokee County Barn Fire Kills More Than A Dozen