PASCO -- Rhythm of Fire had the potential to be a national caliber stallion.
But the 3-year-old Arabian horse won't get the chance because he was among four horses killed in a barn fire at the Columbia Stallion Station north of Pasco.
"To a horse man, this is the worst thing that could happen -- losing animals to a fire," said Ted Wenham, a Pasco chiropractor who's run the stallion station with his girlfriend, Jana Peterson, for years.
Wenham, one of the largest Arabian horse breeders in the area, also lost all the grain, hay, tack, blankets and other supplies needed to continue caring for the 20 horses he still has on his farm, including six mares due to give birth in the next couple of months.
Tools, two farm tractors and countless other items that Wenham hasn't been able to account for yet were all destroyed, but he's getting help from fellow horse enthusiasts to keep things running.
"Someone brought me four tons of hay already and there's another four tons ready when I need it," Wenham said Friday afternoon. "Feed is probably the biggest need but I don't have anywhere to store it right now."
He also hasn't had any water since the fire destroyed the pumphouse, but a friend brought over a water tank to make sure Wenham could still get water to the horses. He said he hoped to have his water back on by today.
It's been a long, emotional week since Wenham woke up at 3 a.m. Sunday to someone pounding on the door to his Clover Lane home. A passer-by on nearby Glade Road North saw smoke in the sky and rushed over.
Wenham immediately knew things were bad when he looked out his bedroom window.
"When I woke up, it was like daylight outside," he said.
Peterson called 911 and Wenham ran outside, but flames already were shooting out of the roof of the barn and the four horses inside were already dead.
"It's devastating to us," Wenham said. "The young stallion was the best stallion or horse we had bred to this point. This was our next big breeder."
Rhythm of Fire impressed a national trainer so much at just 2 weeks old that the trainer reserved him for two breedings. Wenham was only able to breed Rhythm once -- the foal hasn't been born yet.
Another stallion, a 3-year-old blue roan quarterhorse named Tassum Blue, also died in the blaze and has two foals on the way. Blue was owned by Wenham's friend and trainer Tony Jackson, and was being watched by Wenham while Jackson was away.
The other two horses killed were geldings, a purebred Arabian named Thai and a half-Arab, half-Hackney named Whassup.
Franklin Fire District 3 crews, along with help from Franklin Fire District 5 and Walla Walla Fire District 5 in Burbank, responded to the fire but by the time they got there, all they could do was work to keep it from spreading to the house and other stalls, said Chief Les Litzenberger.
The farm is roughly eight miles from the nearest fire station, and water had to be brought in for firefighters use, he said.
The cause of the fire hasn't yet been determined but Wenham thinks it may have been an electrical fire that started in the pumphouse.
Wenham had gone to bed just two hours earlier after giving the horses a late feeding and checking on a horse that just had surgery. Everything was fine.
"Nothing was plugged in. Everything was turned off. There was only power to the light pole and the well house," Wenham said Friday as he stood near the charred ruins that were still smoldering. "I always unplugged things ... and nobody smoked out here."
Wenham estimates the horses were valued at least around $40,000, and thinks it'll cost about $140,000 to replace the barn and all the property inside.
An insurance adjuster gathered basic information Friday to get the claim started, but it'll take a while to finalize everything, Wenham said. Meanwhile, old acquaintances, including people who bought some of the first horses Wenham bred, friends and others in the horse community are stepping up and offering to help in whatever way they can.
"We appreciate all the calls for help -- but that in itself is overwhelming too," he said.
