By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

HEBRON - Judy Dolwick walks out to the barn every night to check on Annie, Hershey, Tucker and the 32 other horses boarded at Sandy Run Stables. Then she sets the barn alarm and locks the doors.

"I never did that before," said Judy, who opened the stables with her husband, Jim, 11 years ago. "You never had to."

But the Dolwicks leave nothing to chance after a fire on Valentine's Day two years ago burned their barn to the ground, taking with it Clyde, Scoobie, Rascal, Sweetie and 25 other horses.

"Every day I think about it," said Jim Dolwick.

The fire's cause has never been determined, and that still frustrates the family. But with the help of family, friends and strangers, they built a new home for the 35 horses they board today - most of which belong to the 15 owners who lost horses in the fire.

"God made a good thing come out of a bad thing," said Judy Dolwick. "He allowed us to do it again."

The fire

The Dolwicks awoke that morning to a "knocking" sound at 4:15. Jim looked outside and saw flames.

"They were coming out the entire 200-foot-length of the barn," he said. "It was engulfed."

Judy called 911, then called their daughter, Kim Smith, who gives riding lessons at the stables.

"I went running over there," said Smith.

Jim Dolwick tried to open the front door, but it was too hot. He went to the back where a door was open, but it was "like looking into the sun."

Taylor Davis of Hebron lost Blue, a horse his parents had given him for his 8th birthday a couple of months earlier. "I felt devastated. It was awful," Taylor said. "Blue was the best horse. A best friend."

Jim Dolwick said investigators determined the fire started in the third stall from the back. He said there were no heaters and nothing that could spontaneously combust. There was no lightning. The electric wiring was only 10 years old. The cause of the fire is, officially, unknown, and the case is closed.

Carl Smith of Burlington lost three horses and thinks it was arson. "It's frustrating not knowing what happened because someone should have to pay," he said.

Other horse owners agreed that arson seems to be the only conclusion left, but nobody knows.

"It drives me crazy, and it would be so much easier if we knew," said Smith. "But I've pretty much come to the conclusion that we'll never know."

Rising from the ashes

With friends' help, Dolwick cleared the rubble within a week.

He and his wife then escaped to Gatlinburg, Tenn., for a weekend to decide whether to rebuild. Insurance covered the mortgage on the old barn, but not much more. They lost thousands of dollars in equipment and would have to build a new stable on their own. And with developers always approaching them to sell, they had a lot to think about. "We did a lot of praying," he said. "But after that trip, we were pretty sure we were going to do it again."

Dolwick hired a contractor in March to build the shells for two barns while he and friends built the stalls. They were open for business by July.

"It wasn't hard simply because of the people who were helping me. Those who had horses here - almost every one of them pitched in," he said. "That's one thing about a tragedy like this - you find out there are a lot of spectacular people out there."

E-mail williamcroyle@yahoo.com