The stories of heroics during the Los Angeles County wildfires continue to amaze and humble us as we read and watch the many human and animal interactions that have unfolded. In one video that has gone viral, 16-year-old equestrian Kalyna Fedorowycz rode a horse – not her own – down a Los Angeles canyon road to safety during the epic wildfires. With her father driving behind her and filming, the video shows the young hunter/jumper rider encouraging Sovereignty, a large black horse that looks like a Friesian or Percheron cross, down the road as burning embers fly around them.

 

Kalyna posted the video to her Instagram account with the message: Thank you for all the love and support from the picture of me and Sovereignty. I wanted to share some of the videos that my dad took of our ride down the canyon. Stay safe everyone!

When Sovereignty wouldn’t load onto the evacuation trailer Kalyna took action, tacking up a horse she’d never ridden to save its life. Her epic rescue ride was over 14 miles long and, in the video, she is seen sometimes riding, sometimes leading the horse along the pavement through the smoke, beneath fallen hydro poles and through what appears to be small communities as cars pass her slowly.

Horse-Canada reached out to Kalyna, but a friend responded that she was too overwhelmed to do an interview. One of her own horses, Ciel, was injured after it knocked down a fence at the evacuation center and required surgery, and her school partly burned in the fires. A GoFundMe  page was set up to raise money to pay for Kalyna’s vet bills at the Humphrey Giacapouzzi & Associates Equine Hospital  in LA County. To date, over $24,631 USD has been raised.