Thousands of horses lose their lives every year trapped in barns that people cannot get to. Insurance often doesn’t cover the entire cost. And insurance buys things but doesn’t replace that special animal lost forever. Champion Thoroughbreds like Favorite Trick and Saratoga Six lost their lives as well as 43 head of Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses, most just two year olds, killed in February 2006 in a fire at Eureka Downs in Eureka, Kansas.

I step out of my truck and into a world that smells like smoke and I try (and fail) not to think about how we left. In my head I can hear my own voice in the hysterical rush of then and I push down a rising sympathy-pang of panic in the now and take a deep breath. The fire which had threatened our family farm had burned neatly around the buildings and the fields and livestock, thanks to the tireless work of firefighters and family members, sparing all but trees and fences. As the fire crested the rim-rock and plunged down the hill behind our home three days prior, my husband and I made the choice to evacuate while my parents stayed behind in a home more protected but no-less-close to the fire than our own.