18 horses were put in mortal peril last week when a flash flood struck Skyeler Icke Voss’ farm in Vienna, Virginia. Skyeler’s team of students and friends worked tirelessly through the night to deliver the horses to safety as the water rose to over 7 feet deep. Skyeler was kind enough to write about the averted tragedy for Eventing Nation.
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From Skyeler:
Angelica Run Farm where I run my teaching and training business is a 30 acre family run operation in Vienna, Virginia. My facility is one of two barns on the property and is home to over 20 event horses and many students. This particular weekend I had two horses and two students competing at the AEC’s and had taken my barn manager Trudy Oxtoby down to GA with me. While we were away we left the barn and horses under the control of my fabulous team of working students Erin Murphy, Connor Husain, and Emma Jenkins.
While we were enjoying beautiful sunny Georgia for the AEC’s, Virginia was experiencing large amounts of rain. I had made contact with Erin Murphy around 2:30 PM on Thursday as I walked the XC course. She said that the creeks surrounding our property were beginning to rise but that they had built bluestone dams to stop the water from coming into the barns. A half an hour later Erin called back and to tell me that Angelica was experiencing the worst and fastest flash flood that my family had ever seen in the 30 years we have lived on the property. The water was rising so fast that within 20 minutes the horses were completely surrounded by racing currents and floating debris. Erin, Connor, and Emma were joined by two other students Natalie Forbes and Cameron Rouse who had stopped by after school and suddenly found themselves in the middle of evacuating 18 horses. Erin thought to call fellow event rider Nate Chambers whose parents live next door to our farm and Angelica is where Nate grew up riding. He and his girlfriend Ellie MacPhail quickly joined in to help rescue the horses. Due to the quick reactions and recovery strategies all 18 of my horses were evacuated before the water got higher than their shoulders. Nate and Ellie went back to help my Aunt rescue the rest of her horses. They ended up having to get on the last horses bareback and actually swim them out of the farthest barns.
The initial plan was to move all the horses to a barn up the street that was 30 feet higher than where our farm was located. Two by two they lead all the horses up Hunter Mill Rd. and took them to the small four stall farm. From there, they then started to plan out a way to get all the horses relocated to dry stalls in the area. For 12 hours Nate, Ellie, the working students, friends and family coordinated efforts to get four of the horses to Ellie’s farm in Upperville and the other 14 to Frying Pan Park which is 10 miles away. Once the horses were settled the students and vet’s Chad and Stephanie Davis from Clarke Equine bathed and checked over every single horse until 1 AM.
I remained on the phone the entire night on Thursday to help coordinate efforts and mostly stay in the loop in hopes of not panicking. It was hard to be so helpless and far away but at the same time amazing to see the teamwork and support that was back in Virginia. I made the decision to withdraw my horses from the AEC’s and fly home to help in the rebuilding process. Over the past few days the out pouring of volunteers from the event community to friends, parents, and perfect strangers has been nothing short of incredible. Over 20 people took part in evacuating my horses that night and since then many more have been here for hours on end cleaning up the damage. I can’t say enough about the heroics from my students and fellow event riders and am forever grateful for what they have done. Every horse managed to escape safe, sound, and better prepared for any water jump they will encounter in the near future.
Now on to the rebuilding…
