10 Tennessee walking horses die in Gallatin fire
Officials are investigating the cause of a fire at a Gallatin barn that killed nearly a dozen horses over the weekend.
The blaze broke out about 10:30 p.m. Saturday on a plot of farmland in the 1600 block of Long Hollow Pike, authorities said.
The fire killed 11 horses inside the barn, said Gallatin Fire Department interim chief Tom Dale.
Although fire crews responded, they were unable to save any of the horses inside the barn co-owned by Carla Hurley, who runs Lead Me on Farm, an equestrian training facility that opened at the Long Hollow Pike location in 1996.
"I've never been through anything like this," Hurley said Monday. "It's a terrible thing for the animals, for your customers and for everybody involved. This is just a horrific thing that you don't want anybody to ever have to go through."
Hurley, who has been showing and training Tennessee walking horses since 1988, said 10 of the horses that died were walking horses. The 11th horse was a Hanoverian breed.
"(A neighbor) just looked out their window around 10 p.m. and everything was good," Hurley said. "Then at 10:38 p.m. I got a call that it was engulfed in flames."
Owners of the horses were "various customers from all over," including those who live in Florida, Georgia and Gallatin, said Hurley, who also teaches history at White House High School in Sumner County.
As of Monday morning, Hurley said she was not sure if she and her business partners will rebuild the barn at that site or move operations to a second farm on Saint Blaise.
Fire officials Monday were attempting to determine the origin of the fire, Dale said.
Check back for updates as they become available.
Reach Josh Cross at 615-575-7115 and on Twitter @joshcross. Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at 615-259-8075 and on Twitter @nataliealund.