A barn fire ripped through Pleasant Ridge Farm on Jan. 15, killing all nine horses housed in the Barrett Township, Pa. barn owned by Briana Yetter.

Yetter, a full-time bartender, was working when she received a call from concerned neighbors who alerted her to the fire. The blaze was reported just before 1 a.m., and an hour later the entire structure was gone. The fire spread to the second story filled with hay, and the barn collapsed.

The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, but firefighters told Yetter it may have been an electrical fire.

Eventing professional Rebecca Greene lost her two horses in the fire. Three others belonged to boarders, and four were Yetter’s.

Yetter’s barn, a wooden 20-stall structure, was in good condition according to Greene. “It wasn’t that old, and my husband was up that Saturday throwing down hay for Briana [Yetter]. He didn’t feel any heat or see any moldy bales. It was fine. There was a radio and a heat lamp for some chickens, but nobody really knows.”

Neighbors tried to rescue the horses, but by the time they arrived, the doors were already too hot.

“Scooby [Who] and Kaz [Cassidy Blue] were my only horses,” said Greene. “I got Scooby off the track at 8, and he’s been with me ever since. I take these horses off the track, and they are just everything. It’s my business. Kaz was a phenomenal horse with such a bright future. I’m still so shocked.”

Greene said Yetter’s insurance has accepted the fire claim, enabling her to start over, but as Yetter told a Pocono Record reporter earlier in the week, “I want to rebuild and have horses again, but it takes years to do that.”

Greene was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from neighbors and horse people. “People have set up a fund for me; they’ve gotten the word out. I never asked anybody for anything, but I’ve just been amazed by the way people are reaching out.”

Find Rebecca Greene’s Eventing Recovery Fund on her website or this Facebook page.