Horse Illustrated Magazine

A barn fire is a sight anyone with horses fears to see, especially if the horses are locked inside. But that’s exactly what 16-year-old Macon Martin and his family saw in the middle of the night in Bishop, Ga.

“Lightning hit the house and it just shook. We went outside and put the fire our on the electrical box and within five minutes we could see our barn was on fire with all the horses inside. It only took a few minutes before [it] was fully engulfed,” Martin told Fox 5.

At 2 in the morning, in the pouring rain, Martin, his father Mark Martin and his older brother Austin Beauchamp bolted a half mile to their barn that housed their Clydesdales.

Martin told Fox 5, “I just had on my underwear, but all I could think about was the animals. The doors are electric, so I used the Gator (utility vehicles) to ram through the doors of the barn, then my dad and my brother went in to let the horses out. At first, they wouldn’t even move because they were so scared.”

The family, which operates Classic City Clydesdales, is proud of Martin, attributing the success of rescuing their 50 Clydesdales to the young man.

“I just can’t tell you how proud I am. Macon stayed so calm, calmer than all of us,” Martin’s mother, Shannon Martin, told Fox 5.

“I’m proud of that guy. If he hadn’t done what he did, we’d all be a whole lot worse off than we are right now,” Beauchamp added.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Martin family rebuild and restock supplies that were lost in the fire. Click here to learn more and donate.