Carla Bundy still sleeps in the barn. It s where she s spent most nights over the past three months, huddling underneath an electric blanket and trying to rest as chickens incessantly cluck nearby. Her body, she said, often aches in the mornings.
On the few nights she leaves the barn and goes home to her husband, someone else volunteers to guard the horses - her sister, her daughter, a friend or one of her students.
“It has definitely been challenging,” Bundy said. “After losing four horses, I don’t want to take any chances.”
Bundy, 50, owns New Hope Stables in Hertford, a small town along the Perquimans River in northeastern North Carolina. On her 10-acre land, she teaches lessons, boards horses, runs youth camps and prepares for show competitions. She s worked with horses for more than 35 years.