After an hour of careful crafting with duct tape and sheet plastic, we had managed to cover the gaping hole in the side of our house. Satisfied that this would keep the storm out until morning, we were ready to go back to bed. As I pulled the back door to our house closed, I instinctively swung the flashlight across the yard to make sure everything looked in order. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the fence was broken. I knew that I’d better count the horses before going back to bed. A quick scan of the pastures with my flashlight made me think that I was missing one horse. I told my wife, Toni, that I needed go back out and check for the missing horse before I went to bed.

I found Candlelight standing by the barn door. I knew the second I saw her that she’d been in a bad accident, but I still remember the look in her eye when the flashlight landed on her. It was a very calm, gentle look that seemed to be saying, “Where’ve you been? I could use a little help here.”

I opened the door and Candle calmly walked into her stall. When I flipped on the light, I could hardly look at her. Her head looked like it had been in an explosion. I called my dad and woke him from a deep sleep. I said, “I think Candle got hit by lightning. She’s alive and walking, but it looks like the lightning blew a big hole in her head.”

We were extremely fortunate that our vet likes to work very early in the morning. When I called him, he was already out on his first call. He agreed to come right over. By the time the vet started working on Candle, I had time to wake up and start thinking more clearly. Lightning didn’t hit the house. And it probably didn’t hit Candle either. I believe it landed very near her, throwing her twenty feet or so through the air, landing in the flower garden, crushing the bird feeder that I thought was hit by lightning. She ran her head full speed through the living room window, sending glass into every room on the first floor. Her shoulder hit the wall so hard she knocked the whole wall six inches off the foundation. There were no tracks between the pasture and the flower garden even though this was one of the muddiest nights I’d ever seen. There was just one deep hole from where she landed right before hitting the house. This is why I believe she was thrown by the lightning. The next morning, we found some beautiful chestnut hair and flaxen mane on our living room couch.

After she was stiched up

The vet spent several hours picking glass out of Candle’s head and stitching her back up. The emergency surgery was quite successful and Candlelight became a bit of a local legend. The “horse that crashed through the living room” went on to show quite successfully at our county fair only three months later. In 2007, she dominated the cone scurry competition on her first try. She also won the men’s cart class. She always participates in many cart and hitch classes, and takes small children out in youth cart classes and pee wee showmanship. She also does parades and gives small children riding lessons.

Blowing away the competition in the cones

But 2008 brought more tough luck for Candle. Evidently, the eye that was injured in the lightning strike had a small piece of glass still irritating it. The irritant caused Candle to develop squamous cell carcinoma. She had cancer in one eye. But we couldn’t operate early in the year because she was pregnant with her first foal, Waltzing Willow SGH.

Candle and baby Willow at 8 days of age

By mid-spring we operated, removing the bad tissue and freezing the tissue surrounding her eye. At first, the surgery looked successful, but by early summer, she had lost vision in that eye as the cancer spread. By mid-July, we operated again to remove the bad eye.

This surgery was only two weeks before our big county fair where Candlelight had always excelled for us. We didn’t expect that she would be able to compete. But we didn’t have many options, so we entered her just in case. We’d sold several good mares earlier in the summer and we didn’t have many show horses left.

Candle healed from her third surgery very quickly, so a few days before the fair, we hitched her for the first time in 2008. It was scary. A horse that had always been completely traffic safe was suddenly nervous and unsure of her vision. She was very uneasy on the road. She would also get nervous and upset about trotting with a cart. While trotting, she would jump up and kick out her back feet with full force, just missing my face. I quickly learned to sit way, way back in the cart. As a team, she needed to switch sides with her sister, so her good eye would face outward. All of these changes were upsetting her.

We thought about scratching her from the competition, but we decided to take her to the show and see what would happen. I reminded my dad that she was still Candlelight, and that she had always found a way to amaze us in the past. It made sense to give her a shot.

As you’ve probably guessed, Candle delivered spectacularly. On day two of the fair, Candle was driven in the children’s cart class by a novice nine year old girl.

Nine yr old,Emma Knaup driving Candle in the youth cart class- 2008

Candle with sister Cassie placing high in the pairs class -2008

Candlelight has been a bright spot for our family, many friends, and all of the young children who have ridden her, driven her, and shown her in halter over the past few years. Sadly, we don’t believe all of her cancer is gone. We don’t know how much more time we’ll get to spend with our delightful young mare. But, we promise we’re going to enjoy every minute we have with Candle. Shine on Candlelight!

Candle, on the right, giving rides in the arena on the last day of the fair- 2008