A wildfire killed one horse at Ashlin Bowen’s Breakaway Farms in Carson City, Nev., on Oct. 14. Bowen was at a show in Sacramento, Calif., when she received a call from her neighbor Mary Anne Healy telling her that her haystack was on fire. 

“She’s my guardian angel,” said Bowen, a hunter/jumper trainer. “If she hadn’t called, we wouldn’t have gotten all of those horses out. She lost her home—she suffered a lot, but she’s the whole reason our barn got horses out.”

Bowen called her father and cousin, and they were on site shortly afterwards and started removing horses from stalls. They were able to evacuate 15 horses but lost a yearling after he ran back to the barns. Within the hour, help arrived from nearby Maplewood Farm and Meadow View Farms, who were able to assist in evacuating horses to the University of Nevada in Reno.

On Sunday, Bowen was able to move her horses to Franktown Meadows Equestrian, about one mile from her farm but unscathed by the blaze. They will remain there until she is able to rebuild.

Shortly after the fire at Breakaway, Bowen’s former assistant trainer Chelsea Flint set up a GoFundMe to help with the rebuilding process. 

“She set the page up in just a couple hours of everything happening, and then she called a bunch of places to see if she could get things donated,” said Bowen. “She’s been amazing. The amount of effort that she’s put in has been incredible and so fast.

“It’s just amazing to see how many people have come out to help us get back on our feet,” she continued. “I had blankets given to us, and one client bought me like $500 worth of halters because none of the halters made it out—crazy stuff. It makes me want to cry. I try not to look at the GoFundMe too much because it’s really incredible that they’ll support us.”