Champion cutting horse spared from Tumalo barn fire

A fire consumed a barn in Tumalo on Saturday. Fire crews responded to the barn fire off Couch Market Road that destroyed the $75,000 barn and $50,000-worth of contents.

But what we didn’t know until Tuesday is the story of the champion horse who was let out of the barn a short time earlier and went on to do something pretty remarkable that day.

RD Bud Light is a 14-year-old quarterhorse. Together with his owner, Ron Davis, Bud Light won the 2007 world championships in cutting, an equestrian sport where the horse is trained to separate a cow from the herd.

Over the weekend, Bud Light’s life was almost cut short.

Davis’ 8,000-square-foot barn had caught fire while Davis was taking a nap. He woke up to the neighbors’ panicked call, but by the time fire crews arrived, the barn was destroyed.

“You can see melted fencing and the whole works. It was extreme. It was a lot of memories in there. A lot of memories,” Davis said Tuesday, surveying the remains.

Fortunately, there were no horses in the barn. Davis had told his grandson to let Bud Light out of the barn just a half-hour before it burst into flames.

“I don’t know why I made that decision, because I was going to take him to the cutting (competition) later that evening, but I decided to be nice,” Davis said.

His decision may well have saved Bud Light’s life.

Later that afternoon, Budlight went on to compete in an Oregon Cutting Horse Association competition in Madras.

“He’s always ready to go,” Davis said. “Like I said, there’s nothing we could do here. So we went. He loves his job, and I do too, so we get along real well,”

Davis said Budlight was nervous at first but managed to pull through. The duo ended up winning the non-pro class and circuit championship.

“So that was a little bit of a bright spot on a very ugly day,” said Davis.

Davis says he thanks God every day that Budlight was in the pasture and not in the barn.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.