RALEIGH -- A horse barn at the N.C. State Fairgrounds remains closed after an electrical accident that killed a horse Saturday evening.
Breeze, an 8-year-old female quarter horse owned by Stacey McAden of South Hill, Va., died at the Fairgrounds' Hunt Horse Complex before they were to take part in a barrel racing event later in the evening.
McAden said Breeze was standing in her stall when something whipped her into a panic. Banging her body against her stall, Breeze suffered self-inflicted trauma that may have caused her death.
"We think the horse either sustained a head injury or broke its neck," said Brian Long, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "It is the first type of event I can recall of this kind in seven years with the department."
McAden said it appeared electricity had shot up the horse's legs. Because Breeze was not in contact with any other surface, she said the current could have come from the damp ground in the stall. Breeze was wearing horse shoes during the shock.
A cause for the shock and the horse's death remains unclear. Breeze's body was moved to the Rollins Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in Raleigh for a necropsy, but no results have been released. Long said the short circuit may have stemmed from an exterior light fixture.
Following the accident, 80 horses were moved from the barn, one of five at the fairgrounds that can hold up to 485 horses, Long said. The barn will remain closed until an investigation of the building's wiring is complete.
Back in the saddle
Fairgrounds officials say the investigation won't interfere with a three-day quarter horse show planned for this weekend.
"We're going to make sure we have a safe place for people to bring their horses and compete in events," Long said.
McAden said she has owned and raced the horse for three years. Saturday's accident marked the first serious accident she has had at the fairgrounds in 20 years of competing there.
"I am extremely sad, more so because I saw it happen," she said.
Despite her loss, McAden plans to compete at the fairgrounds again. The owner of 10 other horses, she said she had spent a lot of time with Breeze because she was a challenge to train.
"Breeze was special," she said. "There will never be another horse like her, I'm sure."
