‘The baby's safe, which is a great thing’: Foal returns home after storms damage her barn

WEST OLIVE, Mich. — As soon as Chelsea Brink got the text message from her friend Allison on Tuesday night that her family’s stable caught fire, she jumped into her vehicle and drove there.

“It was overnight. Big storm hit. Transformer across the street had blown and that was actually connected to the barn and the garage and the apartment,” Brink said during an interview at Pine Haven Stables, where it happened. “And it just went up. Sparks everywhere. Everything went down in flames.”

Brink said it all happened at 10:30 p.m. and they tried to save as many animals as possible.

“They lost five horses, and two of them were mothers,” Brink said while fighting back tears. “So, they have two babies that don’t have mothers right now.”

Even as they began grieving, they immediately looked for one of their foals who ran away frightened, their two-month-old Nona.

Friends, family and community members jumped in to help find her. They searched all day on Wednesday.

“It’s been amazing. People have come from all over the place, dropping things off, seeing if anybody needs help, dropping by food, bringing in horses so they could wrangle in the other horses that are just out in the pastures that need to come in,” Brink said.

Some of the horses were used to bring Nona home, which they did around 2:30 p.m. A crowd of community members stood in the road and cried when they saw her.

“My rogue baby. We’re all crying,” said one woman as her voice broke.

“It’s a miracle baby,” another woman said.

Brink agreed. It was a miracle she was home, which also happens to be the foal’s mother’s name.

“The baby's safe, which is a great thing,” Brink said, letting out a big sigh.

***Family and friends have set up a GoFundMe and a donation fundto help the family. For info on each, click the links.***

Follow FOX 17: Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - YouTube