‘Like the Wizard of Oz’: stable discovered in middle of road
An astonished owner discovered her horses’ stable block in the middle of the road earlier this week.
The unlikely incident took place on Wednesday morning (11 January) in Tyne and Wear after high winds in the area.
Thankfully both horses, Sunny and Bronte, had not been in the stables at the time.
“The winds were wild overnight, probably the worst I’ve ever known them and the news reported up to 70mph winds,” owner Yasmin Crawford-Glanville told H&H.
“My mum feeds the horses in the mornings. When I got to work that day I had a call to say that the stables had blown into the road and the police had blocked it off.
“I thought maybe part of the roof had been blown off, but I never imagined it would be the whole block.
“It had managed to blow over a four-metre hedge and land back down perfectly upright.
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“If I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed it, it was like something out of the Wizard of Oz.”
The horses had not been stabled that night but were checked in case they had been hurt.
Both Sunny, a 21-year-old Welsh-thoroughbred cross, and Bronte, her 18-month-old filly, had not been injured.
“The horses are absolutely fine, thankfully they weren’t in at the time and were more interested in what was for breakfast than their missing stables,” added Yasmin.
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“The council and the farmer who owns the field helped us to dismantle the stables with chainsaws and a JCB.
“In total I think it took about eight hours and the wood is now going to be used as firewood.
“I’m just so relieved and thankful that no one was walking or driving past at the time as it could have been so much worse.
“The stables can be replaced, some things can’t.”
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.