Deadly tornado hits Celina equestrian pasture
CELINA — It is a miracle the barn and horses at the Crow Terre Equestrian Barn are still standing after what the NWS says is a high-end EF-3 tornado moved through Celina. While the barn and many of the horses are still here, there were some that took the brunt of the tornado.
"A lot of debris sort of flew through with the tornado and did a lot of damage, injured a lot of horses really significantly," said Clay Studer, who co-owns the Croe Tere Equestrian.
Three of the horses made it to safety, five weren't so lucky as winds up to nearly 165 mph tore through the countryside.
"We actually had two horses that we found in trees, it seems as though they were picked up and deposited in the trees," said Studer. "We spent, a number of hours searching the entire property for a horse today and we ended up finding him off-property over a fence and a tree had fallen on him. But, that he had been thrown off the property was really significant ... And unfortunately, you know, we've lost four of those horses already. And one more is significantly injured."
A horse named Silver of a Chance is living up to the "Sliver of a Chance" saying.
"He is the fifth and only survivor," said Brittany Jones, Silver's lease owner."He is fighting and as long as he fights, I will give him that fighting chance as well."
His eye sustained a deep cut and is stitched back together and his left lower leg has a deep gash. Twice a day his bandages will be changed but the journey back to health is going to be a long one.
"He has a severed extensor tendon and the prognosis is about 70 to 80% chance that it could heal over the next three months or so," Jones said.
