Christine Adderson with her dressage horse Merlin who was killed earlier this month after snow collapsed the barn he was sleeping in. (Contributed)

Christine Adderson with her dressage horse Merlin who was killed earlier this month after snow collapsed the barn he was sleeping in. (Contributed)

Beloved horse dies in Shuswap after shelter collapses under snow

Owner concerned exposed hay could rot from lack of rain cover

  • Jan. 30, 2020 12:00 a.m.

A Shuswap woman has been left devastated after heavy snowfall collapsed a shelter on her equine rescue, killing one of her closest friends.

Christine Adderson, founder of ForTheHorse equine farm and rescue centre, discovered the collapse on the morning of January 17. The collapse exposed the centre’s winter hay storage to the elements and took the life of Merlin, who Adderson describes as her “heart horse.”

“You know what each other are thinking, you know what each other’s next step is, you know how each other are feeling,” Adderson said. “You can probably only have one of them in your life.”

According to a GoFundMe page created to help recoup damages from collapse, the 12 other horses also stabled at the rescue managed to escape unharmed.

Costs of replacement for the barn and clean up for the wreckage are estimated to be $71,500.

Shelter collapse

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“Funds are needed as soon as possible. We are in the middle of winter with much snow and cold temperatures. A new shelter would be hugely appreciated by us all,” reads the GoFundMe page description.

Adderson said donations of equipment, labour and possibly additional hay for the horses would be greatly appreciated by the rescue.


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