Hello Everyone—
Here’s an update on the efforts we’ve been making to help the horses and people affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Of course, the first concern this week was how people and animals were affected by Hurricane Rita. Paul Bruce, who was working the Hancock County Humane Society in Waveland, told me on the phone Monday that they had had to pull back and close their animal rescue facility because of the storm. I put in a call to Kelley, our friend in Kiln, to find out if her folks in Lakeshore were ok, but I couldn’t reach her. I had some information that the roads were open, however, so headed out Tuesday morning early. I was glad to find out that my husband, Pete, was able to go with me this week and keep me company—Pete is probably the world’s best traveling companion.
As we headed out the driveway I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. I told Pete it seems like it always happens as I’m leaving our farm, I have the most misgivings—worrying about my family, my animals, whether my truck will make the trip ok, whether we can get through to the people and horses who need help, whether I’m taking too much time off from work, whether this is worth doing. Pete always cuts to the chase, and he didn’t fail me here. “That doesn’t last long though,” he said. “You know this is the right thing to do.” Ok, got that out of the way.
We had one stop to make in Pensacola. Rebecca Brightson at Pine Forest Saddlery had called me to pick up donations at their store (which is owned by my friend Jackie Hamilton—thanks much you guys). She had some wonderful skin-care products to send in to the horses to help with rain-rot, thrush, hot-spots, etc., and also some great fly sprays. Rebecca has done international rescue work and is a critical care nurse, so she has a very good idea of what people and horses are up against in the coming days.
I-10 was really hopping as we got into Mississippi. The wait to get across the bridge at Moss Point was long. We didn’t make it to the Pearlington exit until early afternoon. I wanted to show Pete where we had been working the last couple of weeks, and make the loop back toward Lakeshore past several places I was keeping a watch on. Pete took some pictures, which you will notice are a lot better than the ones I took on the fly.
When we got to Lakeshore, Kenny Ray and a friend from the County were working at the circuit box. The first thing he told me was that they had gotten the power on at the house. Now, he was trying to get the barn hooked up. Important progress. Still he seemed pretty low-key. I asked how Teresa was doing and he said, it’s been a rough time.
I talked to the man who was helping Kenny with the electricity. He was driving a Hancock County truck, and I asked him if he knew of people in the area with horses. He said he knew all of them. “Are there some other places we need to be bringing in feed around here?” I asked him. “We all come here,” he said, nodding at the Ladner’s barn. “This is the feed store.” He told me he and his brother both have horses that made it through the flood, although his brother lost five of his horses.
We tried to call Kelley, but the cell phone gods were out to lunch. Teresa offered to run to Waveland and try to find her. Pete and I started unloading hay and feed. When Teresa got back she came to help us and, as we visited, she seemed to perk up a little. I introduced her to Pete, and he got her to tell him about the flood—where she was during it, where the water came to in the barn. She pointed to the little window in the top of their garage. “That’s where me and Kelley were when the water got to its highest. Up in the rafters. We looked through that little window, and the water was just underneath it.” The window was about 12 feet off the ground. Then she pointed up to the top of the barn wall, just under the hayloft floor. “You can see the waterline,” she said. There it was, high up on the wall, the ominous dark stain where the water had marked the wood. Kenny showed us how the whole barn had shifted several inches on its foundation. We could see the edges where the walls had moved off the concrete.
As I was sorting the various products into packages for Kelley, Teresa asked me if I had anything on the trailer that would help a dog who had terrible hotspots. It’s funny how serendipitous things are. Thanks to Rebecca, I had exactly what she needed. Teresa told me a man had brought the dog to them and she had wanted so much to help that poor dog. She thought she had a product in their feed store that might soothe him, but the feed store is so devastated by the flooding she couldn’t get in to find it. Inside the building, feed and products have all collapsed in a fermenting mess, and it’s hard to know how to even start cleaning it up. There might come a point when a volunteer work crew going in for a day would make a world of difference. If anyone would be up for such a task, I’ll propose it to Kenny and see if they would accept it. I’m willing to give it a day.
We unloaded the stock tanks and automatic water floats we had brought for Kelley, since she was tied up at her dog grooming job and couldn’t meet us. Teresa said she was so happy to hear that we had brought these things. “The horses are just sucking down the water,” Teresa said. “The floats will make sure they keep having water in their tubs.” Kelley is fostering some 20 horses in addition to her own herd.
As we were closing up the trailer to head home, Kenny joined us, put his arm around Teresa and pointed to the light bulb overhead. It was on. Even Teresa’s mood seemed brighter as we said good-bye. “I’ll be back,” I told them.
Thanks to all of you who continue to support the relief efforts with your donations. Jimmy and Tom at Florida Farm and Feed have really stepped up to the plate to help with these missions. Please tell them thanks when you’re in their neighborhood. Some nice person also posted these reports on the DressageDaily page, and that spread the word a little wider about our efforts. As a result, several people emailed offering to help. Very welcome and much needed! Thanks to all of you who are continuing to make donations and offer assistance organizing hay shipments.
We have a group up around Kentucky and one in Alabama who are working on getting hay. In talking to Janet McCarrol, who is the coordinator for the tri-county area in coastal Mississippi, we need to support hay needs there for the foreseeable future.
I spoke with Dr. McConnico at LSU this morning and she said hay and feed are desperately needed in the St. Martinville parish and in Abbeyville, LA. She asked me if we could come that far west. I told her we would try.
This coming week, Lori Summers, an eventer, New Orleans resident, student at University of Florida, and who trains with Pat Deasy, has offered to take in a load of supplies as she goes west to help with the clean-up in her hometown. She will pick up the nice donation of hay made by Leslie Timmerman in Crestview and get it to Janet McCarrol for distribution to the horses in Mississippi.
I’ll put together a load and head over to New Iberia and Abbeyville, and see if I can catch up with the folks in Louisiana.
Words are not enough to thank those of you who have emailed me your personal encouragement. We are doing good things to help the horses and people, but there is a long way to go. From the start I’ve had a nagging feeling that the animals and people who have made it in to the big holding areas are being helped, while the ones with no where-with-all are still out there, needing help. This morning, talking with Dr. McConnico, she described the terrible depression of many of the horse owners who are trying to stay near their horses but who are having a very hard time taking care of them. I told her we have standing offers to foster horses, and even a few to foster people and horses. I’m sending her our list of people. She also confirmed that many of the people in the outlying areas are still not being reached. I am haunted by those. As long as we can fill up the trailer with supplies, we’ll keep going in and trying to find them. Thank you for your donations from the bottom of my heart.
Cheers!
Sara Warner
The outside of Ladner's Feed Store
Ladner's Feed Store--Inside
Ladner's barn after the hurricane
More people living in tents.
Trees were snapped off in the center like matchsticks.
A roadside altar outside what used to be a Pearlington Church
Another home that floated away.