Rising from the Ashes


ON MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2011, A CATASTROPHIC BARN FIRE AT TRUE PROSPECT FARM IN WEST GROVE, PENNSYLVANIA, FOREVER CHANGED THE LIVES OF A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE AND ENDED THE LIVES OF SIX TALENTED EVENT HORSES.


T


he fire broke out just past midnight in the upper barn, rented by U.S. Eventing Team member Boyd Martin at Olympic Gold Medalist Phillip Dutton’s farm. Since that terrible night, the tenacity of the surviving people and horses as


well as the outpouring of support from the equestrian community has been nothing short of incredible.


Disaster Strikes Lillian Heard, Ryan Wood and Caitlin Silliman were asleep in the living quarters above the barn, and when Lillian smelled smoke she woke the others. The three managed to get several horses out of the barn and to alert Phillip and Boyd about the fire. By the time they arrived at the farm the barn was engulfed in flames. After a short confrontation with the fire chief, Boyd ran into the barn, followed by Phillip. Fortunately they came out with Neville Bardos, Boyd’s


Above: The burned-out interior and the barn still filled with smoke. Photos by Amy Dragoo Warmbloods Today 17


By Amber Heintzberger


Surviving the Barn Fire at True Prospect Farm


2010 World Equestrian Games partner, and it was just in time. Five horses were rescued that night, but another six did


not survive. Among the fatalities was Ariel, the lovely gray Dutch Warmblood mare belonging to Lillian Heard. The other five who perished were Call Me Ollie, a Holsteiner/ Thoroughbred gelding owned by Faye Woolf; Charla, a


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