Six Horses Burn to Death in Trailer Fire Sparked by Tire Blowout

There's a lot to be said for those truck cab video monitors.

Someone just sent me a very disturbing news story from California. It seems a truck was hauling a trailer with six horses in it, heading north from a horse show toward home in Oregon. The trailer blew a tire, but the driver didn't realize it. He drove for several miles before other motorists convinced him to stop because his tire was smoking...and the trailer was on fire. He finally pulled into a gas station, and the fire trucks came. All six horses died. Amazingly, the truck was not damaged.

The burning trailer also sparked several grass fires along the Interstate.

Click here to read the complete story from the Modesto Bee newspaper.

And please, check your tires every time you use your trailer. And look in the rear view mirror once in a while.

Where I'm Glad I'm Not Tonight: Santa Cruz, California

there was a storm the other night, originally uploaded by DESERT SE7EN.

Is Big Sur burning? Santa Cruz is. Wildfires are blasting through canyons in Northern California, fouling the air breathed by humans and horses and putting many horses in the direct path of danger.

More than 500 horses have been evacuated from the uber-hip hill town of Santa Cruz, south of San Francisco, according to a report in San Jose's Mercury News.

Horses of every breed, type, and size have been led, ridden and hauled down from the hills. The newspaper reports estimates that nine horses died in the fires. More than 200 were moved in the past few days and were bedded down at a county fairground. They've been allowed to return home now.

They are safe, for now. They are the lucky ones.

Thanks to Desert Se7en for the blog photo.