NEDA Fall Festival 2011 - New England Dressage Association

“Help Vermont” Hay Drive Collects Bales
for Hurricane Victims at the NEDA Fall Festival
Chris, my son, and I greatly enjoyed
our time working with NEDA. I am
happy that Chris was able to put his
concerns of the Vermont Floods into
action, and we thank NEDA for the
opportunity to do that.
As you may have known, Chris
was in Vermont the Friday after Irene
hit Vermont. He drove past a horse
farm that was throwing out their hay,
putting their mud-caked blankets in
the sun to dry. When he read a notice
about this farm being in a state of great
difficulty, he called me to ask me what
we could do. I was leaving the next
morning on a flight to check our
Florida farm where we train in winter,
and told him I could not get hay there
immediately but would see what I
could do while away. After he contacted
me, I was thinking of my assignment
at NEDA FF where I was to steward.
I thought how lucky we were to
have come through Irene with a few
trees down, some fence repair and
power outages, and still be able to do
what we love at the Fall Festival and
how the Fall Festival dodged this bullet,
thought of the times it didn’t. At
this point I connected the number of
lucky people coming to NEDA FF, a
bale of hay each, and ideas came
together by the time I left for Orlando.
I contacted the Vermont Horse
Council and VT-Can, an animal support
non-profit that Kathy McHugh
recommended. The Vermont Horse
Council asked that the hay go to the
same farm Chris had passed, which
was known to be in great need, and
other horse farms could come to share
whatever we brought if needed. Thanks
to a very helpful show management
team and fast NEDA footwork by
i The New England Dressage Association j
� BY CLAUDIA TARLOV, REPRINTED EMAIL TO FALL FESTIVAL COORDINATOR, BETH JENKINGS �
email, we got permission to place my
trailer somewhere at the show to take
hay bale collections. Our theme was
“Buddy, can you spare a bale?” I did
what I could through Bulletin Boards,
emails, Facebook, and had to wait to
see what evolved. By the time we left
Colchester for Saugerties on Friday,
September 16, we had five bales in the
trailer. On Saturday Chris waited by
the trailer to accept hay. By Saturday
night, we had 34 bales. I sat with Chris
at dinner and thought, ‘I hope we can
fill half the trailer to give these people
a boost for a few weeks’. What happened
on Sunday was completely sur-
There was a house lying
on its side, like a tossed
Monopoly token. Cloth, paper
and other trash were hanging
in branches high up, brought
there by floodwater.
prising. While I stewarded, Chris continued
to take donations and stacked
them in my trailer. On my first break I
called him and the number had grown
to 50+. At lunch we had 86 bales and
some shavings and a bag of apples. I
returned to Arena 1 to finish stewarding
until 2:30 and when done there
headed back to the trailer to help wrap
up the hay effort. I arrived to a trailer
nearly full with 150 bales. People were
coming from everywhere with a bale
here, four there. The HITS suppliers
came by with two bales that someone
must have purchased and sent over.
The show farrier and several competitors
gave me dollars to send to the
Vermont Horse Council. As I was getting
ready to hook up the trailer, peo-
ple were riding by from their tests and
awards ceremonies and telling us to
come get another few bales at different
barns, which we continued to do until
4:30. The last bale was thrown in the
bed of the truck as we left the showgrounds,
and we were on the road for
VT with between 170 and 180 bales of
hay! We were at maximum capacity!
As we passed through Bennington
to Route 9, which leads to Wilmington,
our destination, the situation became
more obvious. Trees in the small river
that winds along 9 were ripped out by
the roots and stacked horizontally by
flood waters. A large bonfire with people
standing around it got our attention.
What they were burning were the
remains of the rear of their house.
Another house lost one of its floors, two
stories down to one. Getting closer to
Wilmington the damage was surreal:
many heating oil tanks lying on the
side of the river, wash outs that took
out the shoulders of the road and sometimes
the lane we were in which had
been quickly repaired. There was a
house lying on its side, like a tossed
Monopoly token. Cloth, paper and
other trash were hanging in branches
high up, brought there by floodwater.
The quaint Main Street businesses
were sadly damaged. One restaurant
was lit but empty, its owner sitting on
the front steps. The old breakfast
restaurant, Dot’s, a town favorite for 50
years had the foundation washed out
from under it, and will not reopen. A
handmade sign was tacked to the door,
We (heart) Dot’s. An iron handrail was
bent into a 90 degree angle by the
force of the water. All the buildings at
the main intersection sustained a com-
(Hay Drive continued to page 29)
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