Cowboys & Cowgirls Give Aid During California Wildfires

While the nation was captivated by the October wildfires in southern California, Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Professional Women's Barrel Racing members in the nearby area and those with ties to the rodeo community were busy helping the people and livestock in need.

PRCA cowboys and PWBR cowgirls stepped up to the plate by providing their trucks and trailers to help rescue and evacuate endangered and stranded horses at ranches, boarding facilities and staging areas and removed horses from the fire zone.

Many horse owners in the heavily populated and hardest-hit San Diego County drive cars to their horses and ride at equestrian centers and on trails. Many do not own trucks and livestock trailers, and when told to evacuate were faced with the terrifying dilemma of leaving their penned horses behind or opening the gate and letting them loose with wildfires raging nearby.

“(Volunteering to evacuate horses) is the right thing to do because those people get so panicked,” said veteran PRCA secretary and timer Sherry Rice of Poway, Calif., who along with fiancé Brent Gibson of Dodge Rodeo assisted in the evacuation of horses. “They have no way to get them out.”

For Southern California livestock volunteers, the 2007 fires were eerily reminiscent of the Cedar Fire in 2003, when they had to evacuate hundreds of horses. The Cedar Fire burned more than 280,000 acres. Rice estimates she helped evacuate about 200 horses during the Cedar Fire.

As a result of past experience, the volunteers in the area mobilized quickly beginning on Oct. 21, a quick action that again helped save hundreds of horses.

“You leave your trailer hooked up, and if they need you, you go,” said Susie Mills of Lakeside, Calif., a PWBR member and employee of Growney Brothers Rodeo Company.

Mills, who also evacuated horses during the Cedar Fire, made seven trips to evacuate horses last month. At times, both Rice and Mills had to be escorted by an official vehicle to enter a fire zone to evacuate horses. They were busiest from Oct. 21-23 assisting those impacted by the Witch and Harris fires and remain on standby.

At press time, seven counties in southern California devastated by five major fires had been declared major disaster areas by President George W. Bush. More than 750,000 square miles had burned, and about 2,000 homes had been destroyed. At least seven had died.

The cost of the wildfires is expected to exceed $1 billion, and lingering effects include power outages and increased air pollution due to dust and soot, and people were encouraged to boil drinking water in cities such as Ramona.

Along with transporting horses, PRCA members fed and watered their evacuated neighbors’ animals and used water trucks and garden hoses to spray homes to prevent them from burning.

The rodeo facilities in Poway and Lakeside were turned into horse evacuation centers and a gathering place for the displaced families of the horse community.

The Ramona Outdoor Community Center, where the PRCA Ramona Rodeo is held, is serving as a relief center for Ramona residents. Businesses and families donated bottled water, food, rakes, shovels and other household items, and service organizations distributed them to those in need.

Photo courtesy of Kayla Spurlock, Miss Rodeo California, 2005: PRCA stock contractor Jerry Honeycutt of Honeycutt Rodeo, Inc., and PRCA bullfighter Dusty Duba load donated hay into a truck to be delivered to livestock in need of feed after being displaced by the wildfires in southern California. Many PRCA and PWBR members and those with rodeo ties mobilized to help their neighbors and those in need during the crisis.

Ramona Rodeo committee members set up an equine distribution center at a nearby ranch. Honeycutt Rodeo and Ricard’s Hay Forage donated several tons of hay for the fire victims of Ramona and the surrounding areas.

Many with rodeo ties volunteered to feed and care for the displaced horses at the rodeo grounds and donated water troughs, along with more hay and their time.

Due to the size and severity of the southern California wildfires, it is not exactly known how many people in the rodeo community helped people and animals in need. “People did whatever it took,” said Mills, a member of the Lakeside rodeo committee.

In the Lakeside and Ramona areas, those who helped included Ricky and Velva Price, Fred Hight, Chad Waldhauser, Clay Hatch, Matt Deskovick, former Miss Rodeo California Kayla Spurlock, Dusty Duba, Michael Tellam, employees of Honeycutt Rodeo and Mills.

In Poway, Russ Sheldon, Rice’s father, also helped evacuate horses, along with Rice and Gibson. PWBR member Jessica Burch took in displaced horses in the San Diego area. In addition, the San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) rodeo committee donated the use of a large tent to house displaced horses.

Outside of California, the rodeo community was trying to help and show their concern. An Arizona PRCA member contacted PRCA Headquarters to say he could care for a small number of displaced or endangered horses’ of contestants at his ranch.

“(Rodeo secretary) Linda Alsbaugh called,” Mills said. (Wrangler National Finals Rodeo livestock superintendent) Ted Groene called every day.”

The outpouring of support from the rodeo community energized Mills, who rushed to open the Lakeside rodeo arena as soon as she heard wildfires had displaced horses.

“It’s unbelievable,” she said, about the number of volunteers who came forward to help. “It brought out the best in people.”

Source: www.prorodeo.com

I was a volunteer at Lakeside Rodeo during these fires, and I must say, it was a life-changing experience. The people who were there day and night, on the consant schedule of water, feed, muck, water, muck, water, muck truly showed what San Diego is all about.

I have never been so dirty, blistered, and sleep deprived in my life, but I have also never felt so satisfied at the end of the day, especially when we got to see them load up and go home.

Our crew leader Ric, a bronc rider himself, is a true hero, but he'd never tell you that, he'd be much more likely to spit some chew out of the corner of his mouth, show you his rodeo scars, and tell you "water, feed, muck, water... that's the schedule"