Yankee – The Last Survivor
Rancho Santa Fe, CA – There’s no hype. No fanfare. No bright lights or camera crews. There’s only a dim, 100 watt light bulb shedding a soft glow over the scarred, burned 32-year-old hero who will never understand the life that he may be saving.
“Yankee” has already beaten the odds by surviving to such a ripe old age. Most paint horses have drifted into memory before reaching even 30. But, looking at him today, nuzzling his nose against Carolyn Prida-Casbier, you get the impression that his life holds a higher purpose. He’s giving her a reason to go on. To rebuild. He has to be there for her, so she can be there for him.
When the Cedar Fire ripped through the hills of Eastern San Diego County, California in late October, 2003, firefighters at first denied Carolyn access to Old Barona Road. When the risk subsided they began allowing animal rescue volunteers, including Carolyn, into to the area. She recalls that, pulling a horse trailer behind her SUV, it was hard to find her way home. “There was so much smoke and ash in the air that I could hardly see. And the landmarks that have always been there were gone. Everything was black and there was still fire all around.”
Reality hit Carolyn full force when she finally reached her property. Only a heap of burning ash remained where her home once stood. But today she recalls that it was all just “stuff” and she’s lucky to be alive. “It was just gone. But I hoped my animals had been able to survive.”
To this day she doesn’t know where she got the strength to pick up her two goats and toss them into the back of her Chevy Suburban. “I was away from home at the time the fire broke out and couldn’t get home to help evacuate. My husband had only five minutes to leave and could only take my bird.” Nothing looked the same. She noticed that the trees were mostly burned as she began looking for her two horses.
While her thoroughbred horse, also 32 years old, had been able to dodge the rapidly moving blaze because he was farther away from the burning house, Yankee had not been so lucky. Carolyn recalls, “By the time I got there, Yankee had gone into shock. One eye was swollen shut. His lower lip was hanging and his nose was so badly burned that I was afraid he couldn’t breathe.” Her years of experience and the trust she had developed with her horses paid off as, surrounded by smoke and flames, she coaxed both horses into the trailer.
The relief of rescuing her animals was short lived as she realized that the trip to safety would be equally as treacherous as the drive to her former home. Again the smoke and the absence of landmarks caused her to stop several times to get her bearings on the road she had traveled thousands of times before. But, slowly inching her way along, each minute brought her closer to safety.
“There was only one time when I really felt like we might not make it. There was a power line lying across half of the road and a tree across the other half. There wasn’t enough room to turn around and it would have been even more dangerous to drive back into the fires.” With no way of knowing whether the power line was still “live”, she chose to drive over the tree. “I yelled for the goats and the horses to ‘hang on’ and we eased over the tree.” Once through this roadblock, the next obstacle was to find medical help. “They were all I had left in the world. I had to do everything I could to save them.”
Many animals evacuated because of the fire were taken to the rodeo grounds in Lakeside. When Carolyn arrived she found her veterinarian, Larry Catt, already on the scene and treating injured animals. “While we were at the rodeo grounds Yankee began to have colic. At this time Larry felt it would be best to take him to Helen Woodward Animal Center’s equine hospital. We arrived at the hospital on November 3rd.”
Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, California, was still under threat of evacuation when Carolyn and Yankee pulled into the parking lot, but no animal in need of medical care was turned away. Carolyn recalls, “I was so scared. Yankee and I had been together for 20 years. He was one of my best friends in the whole world and everything else was gone. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
Jill Kuntz, who works at Helen Woodward Animal Center’s Community Equine Hospital remembers, “I was here early Sunday morning-the day of the fires. As the day progressed the magnitude of the tragedy was made clear. I received many calls from people wanting to help and trying to coordinate the evacuation. I was profoundly moved by the joined effort of complete strangers in saving these horses. I felt fortunate that I was able to assist in treating the fire victims. Each of the horses we treated was amazingly strong and brave.”
Following a preliminary examination Lynn Richardson, D.V.M. told Carolyn he felt that Yankee could be saved. But Richardson and the hospital staff all knew that things would get a lot worse before they got better. They were right. The swelling grew. Yankee’s whole face was soon engulfed in charred hair and skin. His lower lip, damaged by the fire, hung down. Unable to close his mouth, a stream of saliva left a puddle on the floor of his stall. But he hung on.
Richardson and the hospital staff worked round the clock applying salves and injecting medications. Yankee, like most victims of severe burns, not only suffered the pain of his injuries, but fought a constant battle against the threat of secondary infections that could ultimately claim his life. Fortunately, the diligence of the care providers paid off.
Hospital staffer Theresa Madok later recalled, “Backing up the doctors and caring for the fire victims here at the hospital was both exhausting and exhilarating. Yet I still felt utterly powerless not being able to assist most that didn’t find their way here and was completely awed and saddened by the terror they all must have experienced.”
At about the same time when the swelling began to subside, it was time for Yankee’s first “bath”. While part of it must have given him some relief from the soot and ash embedded in his coat, it was the scrubbing of the burned skin that is most memorable. It began with some small pieces of obviously charred flesh dropping from his body. Next the rinse water carried with it some larger patches, until finally great sections of skin and horse hair began dropping to the ground. “Hamburger” is how one visitor described Yankee’s face, neck and side. But through it all, he never flinched. He never kicked. He never complained.
It’s always an inspiring experience to work with horses in pain,” says Hospital worker Brittany Harris. “They bear pain and stress with more fortitude, bravery and stoicism than any other animal. Burns that would leave a person confined to a hospital bed and morphine drip merely cause a horse to chew his hay on the other side of his mouth. It’s not that they feel pain to a lesser degree. It’s just that it would not occur to a horse to feel sorry for himself.”
During the following days and nights, Carolyn Prida-Casbier became a fixture at Helen Woodward Animal Center. Without a home to go to, she lived her 24-hour-a-day vigil in her Suburban parked outside of Yankee’s stall. When Helen Woodward Animal Center President Mike Arms offered to find a place for her to stay nearby, she refused, telling Arms, “Yankee has always been there for me. Now it was time for me to be there for him. My animals and husband are all I have left.”
While Carolyn continues to shout the praises of Doctor Lynn Richardson, the Registered Veterinary Technicians from Helen Woodward Animal Center’s Equine Hospital, and other staff members and volunteers who she came to know, they all agree that even through his own suffering Yankee deserves credit for saving his owner. Arms says, “None of us can even imagine what she’s going through. Her home, every photo and memento of her life, pet vaccination records, everything she owned is turned to ash. We’ve wondered how she is able to go on. But then we see her focus on Yankee. She is devoted to him, and he refuses to let go. He may be saving her life at the same time she’s saving his.”
As February 2004 begins Yankee’s health continues to improve. His scars will remain for whatever time he has left on this earth. But there are now patches of skin and a fine growth of hair taking the place of that “hamburger” on his face, neck and side. Some minor concerns have already caused him to miss one appointment to go to his new home. But officials say the day is drawing near when “the last survivor” will get back on board that same trailer that drove him to safety and travel up the hill to his new life, accompanied by the woman that he is saving
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