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For Breeding or Boarding Information Contact

Jennifer VanHal

507.383.5847

jennifervanhal@yahoo.com

2010 Advertising ~

On June 17, 2010 Pine Haven Stables was in the path of one of the worse storms to hit Minnesota in 30 years. As we held each other tight, my son and I sang “Jesus Loves Me.” The power flashed the then went as the growling came closer. It felt like an eternity as rumbled, groaned, crashed and shook… the pressure in your head was insane… if you opened your eyes you could see flashes of light and dark passing the glass block windows in our basement. We almost got up but then it started again… I just told my son to keep singing… Then it passed… as we climbed the stairs my husband led the way, I had no idea what I was walking up to… was my house still there? Were the barns still standing? My Dogs? I was able to make one quick call before my cell service interrupted to tell my Mom that we were alive, my husband got out for a moment to tell his parents we were hit but alive.

As we opened the basement door, I told my son to just wait there for a minute and pray as Mommy & Daddy check outside… I seen I had a kitchen and my main floor seemed to be intact, but that didn’t matter, we needed to get outside… As I emerged from the garage I seen the front of my main barn, it was standing, then I turned my head and seen my mare barn, it was standing too! My husband was running to his beloved dogs, when we looked at their kennel it was trashed, completely off the foundation, almost falling down. Matt made in and we started calling for them, nothing…

Only a few minutes had passed since the tornado hit but it was all happing in slow motion. As my husband and I started crying we heard our son wondering out of the garage and his five year old eyes seen everything we hadn’t, he was horrified, his swingset, the trees down, the trash… I went got him and as we were returning back to my husband, the way he looked at me I knew… but just then out of the twisted piles came our German Shorthair and our Schnauzer. We smiled and celebrated, but only for a moment… standing at that angle we seen much to our horror that the back sides of both our barns were blown out…

I ran to the mare barn, Matt to the back of the main barn. Our cow looked good hiding in the corner, as crawled over stuff I seen my first face, Sugar (a broodmare), then as a got closer I seen all my yearlings standing looking over at me, their stalls all standing! Just then I heard Matt screaming, as I ran back his direction I seen two of my broodmares cowered at the end of a paddock. Their lean-to had exploded from the inside out, I ran down to them and although they were shook up they appeared to be unharmed, we grabbed them and moved them to the front turn-out. Then I made my way into the main barn everyone was upright and appeared to be ok… I was unable to call out to anyone, but able to update my facebook, that we were hit but alive.

Matt, Kavan and I collapsed on the driveway and held each crying and counting our blessings. As the emergency workers flew by I knew our neighbors were not so lucky, many of them lost everything….

Even now I have no idea how our animals escaped without injury, brick pavers and bin steel in the paddocks, the debris in stalls, even glass lights that exploded over my beloved Zippen Fancy Free.

With the help of friends and family we had the place looking better by the end of the weekend and the first 40 downed trees cleared. Your names are to numerous to mention but We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts! Even if you just stopped over and gave us a hug, that meant the world to us! Thanks Kim Christianson & Benes Show Horses for getting pens ready and taking horses for me. Also thanks to Alliant Energy for working to get us power so fast, the Salvation Army, the National Guard, and all the Emergency workers for all the long hours they put in to help our community.

The structural damage is significant on our barns and home, as we wait to get the go ahead to rebuild we want to thank our customers for their understanding. We are getting things back up and running and fast as possible! We will still be Pine Haven Stables, just short a few pines.

We were truly blessed… To walk away with our lives, our dogs, our horses and our boarders’ horses, even my son’s pet cow, all his kitty-cats and bunnies.

Riding out the storm-

Jennifer