I am Ouisha McKinney. My best friends, Shelley and Andy Ritter have suffered an HUGE destruction of their farm:

Every horsewoman and Horseman‘s worst nightmare is a barn fire. We don’t even THINK of a tornado. My friend, Shelley, was IN THE BARN with her three helpers, terrified, as 104 MPH winds tore through and over her barns, ripping off all of the doors and two of the roofs; and crumpling her hay barn , which was just 100 feet away. The winds thrust 16 foot long 2 x4”s through the roof of two barns. It slung sheets of metal roofing across the fields and fencing, luckily not killing any horses.Still, quite a few of their horses needed medical care and suturing.

Shelley and Andy have a low profit business, boarding quality broodmares, foals and yearlings, for people from Texas to Canada to Virginia and Florida. This supports the care their own small group of broodmares. Because of the destruction of their facility, they had to ship most of the horses to other farms, to be safely cared for, until repairs and cleanup were made. This means the income has stopped while spending is quadrupled. Few friends have made it over to help clean up; a few more have delivered food. But mostly, Shelley and Andy are re-organizing and repairing LEDGELANDS FARM by themselves, with the help of several extra men that they are paying to help with the cleanup.

Another friend loaned them a generator powered magnet to help pick up more than 1000 nails that have been tossed across fields by the tin roof and flying rafters.

The barn cats have been confined to a large dog kennel for their safety as their tack room, in this rainy weather, is more of a bathtub.

The horses have been restricted from their fields due to the danger of nails .

Surely, if you were in the situation, you would welcome any and all help. so many of their friends are slammed with spring horse breeding business; grass that is growing so fast, you can hear it, squeak, and normal, crazy busy, February-May foaling, that they don’t have extra time to help. So, here is our opportunity! Please donate more than you can afford to help Ledgeland‘s farm rebuild their barns and get back in business.