A tragic trailering accident has claimed the lives of three horses in New Mexico. On the night of April 27, grand prix rider John McConnell and his brother, Bill, were shipping eight horses from McConnell’s home farm of the McElvain family’s Rancho Corazon in Lemitar, N.M., to the Del Mar Horse Show (Calif.). In the middle of the night, the rear tires of the semi rig caught fire outside of Lemitar.
John and Bill made valiant efforts to save the horses as flames engulfed the rig, and they succeeded in unloading four of the horses. When the flames made rescue efforts impossible, they opened the back door in hopes the horses would jump out. One did, but the three remaining horses were lost. The fire department arrived at 2 a.m.
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Lost in the fire were Carolina, Air Force and Candilagos. Carolina and John had won the $25,000 Tulsa Classic Grand Prix on April 26.
John and Bill McConnell are fine and at John’s home. The McConnell and McElvain families would like to express their sincere appreciation for the outpouring of concern from the horse community.
