Photo: Courtesy Leslie Talley

“It’s just so amazing to me that in one day, it can all be lost and suddenly you live in a dangerous place,” said Allison Barca, DVM, who has served many of the equines in and around New Orleans for years. Barca’s home is just north of New Orleans in Harahan, La., and most of her clients were in some way affected by the hurricanes. Since the storm, she said she’s been living a sort of hell, seeing clients each day who have lost family, horses, and homes to the hurricane, and identifying dead horses so their owners can have closure.

The day of the storm Barca began calling everyone she knew in the affected areas. She was surprised the barn phone still worked at Denny Stables–a barn her grandfather built 50 years ago next to the levee in upper New Orleans that is now the boarding stable she runs. “We were able to talk to this one guy who stayed behind who would fill us in on what was going on at our stable,” Barca said. “Looting started within 24 hours of the storm, and it became so bad he had to go away or he’d (have been) killed.”

Denny Stables had survived Hurricanes Betsy and Camille, and it stood strong through Katrina. “Three blocks away from here, you needed a boat,” she said after returning to the stable