FUCK

Well I've had a decidedly unfun Saturday night. The horses are all ok, but some FUCKER has burned our hay barn and the two caravans to the ground. I was in a total state of panic at half past seven as I got a phone call (while we were eating our dinner) from the farmer at the bottom of our field who said 'your stables are on fire'. Jesus fucking christ. I was imagining all sorts of horrible things because of course, Oscar, Kaz and the new horse Troy are in the stables over night. Luckily it wasn't the actual stable block (we didn't know that until we got there though) but the barn and the caravans that we use for feeding the cats in (and god knows where they are now) and making cups of tea in. I checked the fire brigade had been called and we rushed straight down. What a long 10 minute journey that was. Because it's on the top of a hill we could see the flames and the blue lights from about a mile away. Luckily Troy's owner lives closer and she got there before us and let Oscar and Kaz out into the field before they started trying to put out the fires. There were three fire engines and a million people standing watching - I'm not surprised as there were plenty of impressive flames.

Whoever has done it must have been waiting for Troy's owner to go home because she only left there at quarter to seven and we got the phone call at 25 past. They had let Troy out of his stable but either hadn't seen Oscar and Kaz or didn't give a fuck. What a pointless thing to do. All they've stolen is one of the electric fence boxes (and I hope that they got a good shock off the fence before they realised it was electric!). They've taken some of the haynets - it must have been to start the fires with. We were so lucky that the fire engines got there when they did because the fire was spreading rapidly - the owner of the field has an overgrown compound at the back of the hay barn that's full of junk. The bracken and broom set alight and was heading for the stable block. We were also lucky that the fire didn't reach the gas bottle in one of the caravans. The people who live next to the field were using hose pipes on the caravans from over the fence before the fire engines got there - that must have slowed it down a bit.

Now there's an unholy mess we've got to somehow clear up - I think I'll have to take some holiday next week to help get it sorted. We've lost about 40 bales of hay and have nowhere to store the rest of the hay that the farmer is keeping for us. At least we've still got a load left in his barns though. How are going to get a new barn? Oh, and Oscar is out in the field in his stable rug as I couldn't catch him to put his waterproof rug on. I just hope it doesn't rain tonight.

At least the horses are okay and we've got rid of all the random old crap that the owner had stashed in the back of the barn! Although I'll admit it's a bit of a drastic way to get rid of it! ;) Oh - and I got the letter this morning to tell me that my contract has been extended until the end of December. At least I'm not going to be unemployed in the near future!

ETA: Oh man, I love this mood theme! Heh.

(no subject)

Off to survey the damage in the daylight. And put Oscar's proper rug on. Bollocks.

(no subject)

Thanks for all the comments on my post(s) yesterday. *hugs* We went down to the field this morning at eight and we were down there until three (and then went back down at five to put them in for the night). It's rained the entire day - even my knickers were damp (and not in a good way!). The hay barn is completely gone and there's only the chassis left on one of the caravans. The other caravan is completely gutted but the shell is intact. I could see how close the fire had got to the stable block and it's very scary. The owner of the field doesn't have any insurance that will cover what happened and Oscar's insurance only covers him and his tack.

We've put back together an old shed that the owner had stashed somewhere and got some hay in that and we got the farmer to move one of the old trailers that's kicking around, got a tarpaulin over it and got some hay in that as well. I'm not going to work tomorrow. We're going to try and dismantle the burned out and twisted metal of the caravans - the owner is bringing an angle grinder with him to chop it up with. My arms are hurting enough today from the carrying and lifting and hay stacking so I dread to think what I'm going to be like tomorrow night!

They're never going to catch who did it. The police came along with the fire brigade but they were very disinterested. Not much they could do I suppose but a bit of support would have been nice.

Aaargh! So pissed off right now. I'm going to bed because I'm absolutely knackered.