A Close-Up Look At People Who Matter : Doctor Rescues Horses Amid Smoke, Chaos

Stephanie Abronson awoke that Tuesday morning just like any other. Gusts of wind rattled leaves in the canopy of oak trees shading Monte Nido. The breeze curled past Abronson’s home and stable holding 12 horses, three belonging to boarders, nine Welsh or Cobb ponies of her own.

Within hours she was outside, laying out first-aid kits, filling water barrels, and wetting down wool horse blankets, preparing for the worst as Santa Ana winds pushed fire toward her home. A helicopter flew low overhead, blaring the order to evacuate.

Abronson was faced with a dilemma. A boarder was on the way to pick up her two horses. Abronson was left with 10 horses to save and a trailer that could fit only four. She would have to make three trips.

She didn’t have to. A convoy of trucks and trailers swarmed the area to help evacuate animals from the area. The trailers and the sight of a familiar face, veterinarian Dr. Richard Stevens, calmed Abronson.

Abronson’s relief was shared by dozens of horse owners helped by volunteers who carted horses to safety and by people such as Stevens, who spent long days and nights doing what he could to help.

In the midst of the jumble of trailers, terrified horses and panicked owners, stood Stevens, tranquilizing skittish horses, helping load animals into trailers, even picking up a chain saw to clear brush and trees when it looked as if volunteers and owners wouldn’t be able to evacuate all the horses.

“He was up for 48 hours helping people in the fire areas with their horses,” Abronson said.

Stevens, a veterinarian with Conejo Valley Vet Clinic, was on duty in Agoura when he saw smoke on the horizon and called 911.

“By the time we got out of Agoura it was apparent the thing was totally out of control,” said Stevens, a former competitor in the equestrian sport of dressage.

Workers in Stevens’ office began calling clients in Monte Nido to warn them of the danger. People began to call in, asking how they could help, where they could take their trailers.

“People started calling our veterinary clinic saying, ‘We can haul, we can haul. Where do we go?’ ”

When Stevens and his veterinary assistant, Madeline Hartley, reached the Monte Nido area, some residents were just noticing the increasingly smoke-filled sky.

“We were driving up and down the roads,” Stevens said. “We kind of felt like Paul Revere honking our horns and telling people they need to get ready to move.”

Stevens, who has worked and lived in the area for 13 years, knew where the horses were and went from barn to barn offering help to panicked owners.

“It was just chaotic,” he said. “The helicopters were flying overhead saying ‘Evacuate! Evacuate!’ and they were flying very low. People were driving like a bat out of hell. It was chaotic.”

Empty horse trailers started filing in. By the end of the day, about 50 trailers had passed through Monte Nido, taking their nervous cargo out of harms way.

Many horses balked when prodded to walk into unfamiliar metal rigs. Some hadn’t been in trailers for years. Stevens had to treat so many horses--about 30 in all--that he ran out of tranquilizers.

“If they didn’t walk right in, we didn’t think it was practical to try to work with them,” he said. “A couple of CCs of tranquilizer makes a much safer situation. That’s what I was worried about.”

After hours in Monte Nido, Stevens headed to other fire-threatened areas.

“He was just going around like a little crusader,” said animal health technician Ginny Dresher, who delivered more tranquilizer to Stevens. “I don’t even think he slept.”

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