Help — Relocating to Moorpark

So glad to hear that. I was going to suggest flying them but didn’t want to assume that was in the budget.

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Anyone know how people in Somis/Moorpark are coping with the Mountain Fire? It’s now 10,400+ acres and not contained. There must be some 400 horses living right in the ignition area.

https://ktla.com/news/california/wildfires/homes-go-up-in-flames-during-ktla-reporters-live-shot/

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My FB-member sister sent this link. If you scroll through the 154+ comments, it looks as if they’ve got it sorted for now. :crossed_fingers::muscle::horse_racing:

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OP here. Well, I was in Wellington long enough to have the tornadoes run through and miss my horses’ barn by one property. Now I have them in Moorpark for the wildfire. They are going to give me a vote of no confidence soon. We are safe now, but if the wind shifts I have my trailer and the Ventura County Fairgrounds is taking in horses. There are a lot of horses next door in Somis that had to be evacuated, including some bigger names like Amelia Newcomb and a large vet clinic.

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Yup. Our nearest equine hospital was within spitting distance of the ignition point.
You and yours okay?

Gah about the fires. We don’t have fires or hurricanes where I live but we do get tornados. Fires really scare me. I guess the best thing about tornadoes is that they appear quickly and you don’t sit stressing out about them for hours or days. You have maybe 30 minutes of terror and then you are done.

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Around noon at the barn, we could see flames shooting up through the smoke in the distance, the power was off and the water was expected to be shut off. About half of the barn evacuated. I know no one here and someone suggested I call Hansen Dam Horse Park.They said they could take my two in so that is where they are tonight. Our house is two miles from the barn and so far so good. How are you, your home and horse(s)?

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I am originally from the Midwest and I agree!

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Welcome to California, oof. :grimacing:

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Surely far, far more. Lots of properties with ~50 horses a parcel.

You know, I lived and kept horses in Southern California for ~20 years in all the places we expected fire and never once had to evacuate or had any threat. I moved (lol) to a nice green place with >45" annual rainfall in northern California, next to a river, and have had to evacuate the horses twice. It is terrifying how much the climate has changed in just the last decade, and how much more dangerous every place seems to be now.

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With the wind event subsiding, my little rental is fine.

My horse along with 57 other horses I help care for are all fine, too. The boarding/training/breeding ranch is in the middle of an irrigated citrus orchard that’s been in the same family for three generations. Even in the worst of our area’s fires, the Thomas Fire in 2017, for instance, this ranch is fine and only the boarders’ anxiety prompts evacuations – so far.

Though I had my fingers and toes crossed that the orchards would similarly protect the horse scene in Somis and Moorpark, it sounds as if the winds won that fight.

I helped evacuate horses during the Thomas fire, and one of the barns we emptied had melted rubber mats the next day – though the barn and even the hay was fine.

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Yes, especially now that the fire has spread in three directions. I meant the ignition point at the bottom of Balcom Canyon and the initial spread. Our local equine hospital is practically on that spot.

I have no idea what the total evacuated count is, though I know that the Ventura Fairgrounds is at capacity for evacuated stock, equids, bovids, and other ungulates.

Speaking of climate change, at one point, one of the hilltop neighborhood fire fighting efforts had to pause to re-supply water. Apparently, the pumps were getting ahead of the natural refill. There is not enough water in the West, period.

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How are you doing? I understand Hilda, many from Swanhill and some other barns on Waters Rd. evacuated this morning. Thinking of you.

Not sure who took this, but this photo is of Swanhill.

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This pic chills me to the bone :pleading_face:

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It was crazy windy that Wednesday morning. We were supposed to leave for Thermal that morning and were waiting around drinking coffee, checking wind speeds on the 118 freeway, and debating what to do about leaving when the fire started. It was northwest of us and moving mostly west so we were fortunate. We finally left mid-morning and could see the plume of smoke from the 23 freeway as it bends east to the 118 freeway. Obviously we wouldn’t have left if we felt that the fire would come our way.

Ironically, there was little to no wind at Thermal that day.

There were some equine evacuees while we were away, but they’d gone back home, or somewhere, by Sunday evening. The power was out for a day or two.

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