Picture an open pasture where horses peacefully graze, enjoying their carefree lives under the supervision of OVS equestrian teachers and students.
From an outsider’s perspective, this scene could have easily been mistaken for a vacation. But it was far from that.
That was the scene in the days after the Thomas Fire hit the Ojai Valley, forcing the evacuation of the Upper Campus of Ojai Valley School, including the 31 horses that make their home at the high school campus.
As the fire began to burn out of control the evening of Dec. 4, from its ignition point near Santa Paula, a giant cloud of grey-red smoke slowly made its way over the hills toward the Upper Campus.
In response, numerous OVS faculty members and friends put everything aside to ensure the horses would not be in harm’s way.
By 10 pm, they had loaded the last horse into the trailer, and the horses were brought to the Lower Campus and nearby barns.
“We went to bed that night safe in the thought that our task has been completed successfully,” said Equestrian Director Stephanie Gustafson, who moved some of the evacuated horses to her own barn. “Little did we know that this was just the beginning of our journey.”
The following morning, as the flames began to climb over the hills closer to town, Mrs. Gustafson realized the horses that were currently located at her house would have to be evacuated again, and they were brought to the Lower Campus.
The Lower barn now had more horses than it could safely hold so it was decided that some of the animals would have to be relocated again.
Photo by Lilli Trompke
On that Wednesday, December 6, 38 horses were moved to three separate locations further north, in Santa Ynez.
Those facilities are owned by OVS families who reached out to the school when they heard that they were in need of a place for the horses to stay.
Diana Schwarzbein, an aunt of junior Jaclyn Sersland, was among those who was so generous and ready to help out.
She offered to let many of the OVS horses to stay at her barn in the Santa Ynez Valley. The stables and pastures were full to their capacity with dozens of horses that had to be rescued from all over the Ojai Valley.
“The barn was pretty packed,” Jaclyn said. “The OVS horses all shared two pastures, it worked really well.”
But the journey was still not over.
As the fire continued to spread, five days after the horses were brought to Santa Ynez, Mrs. Gustafson and her horses had to keep moving, as the fire moved north and the air quality deteriorated.
They were brought to the Equestrian Center in Somis and the JH Ranch in Moorpark.
A few days later, Mrs. Gustafson returned home safely with some of the horses, while most of the horses would stay there until school continued.
“Now that we’re back at school with the horses and the students, it is such a relief to see everything back to normal,” Mrs. Gustafson said. “I’m so grateful for all of the help we had keeping the horses safe… I couldnt be happier that all the horses are happy and healthy, ready to start the new year,” she added. “It feels wonderful to have everything back to normal.”