4 months after Glass fire, triumphant return to Pony Express ranch

Eventually, Linda Aldrich will replace the sweet, old, two-story ranch house rendered to ash when the Glass fire rolled like an avalanche onto the Sonoma Highway property where for decades she lived and managed the animal rescue, youth mentoring and rides-for-kids programs of The Pony Express.

At this moment, Aldrich beams to have fulfilled her No. 1 priority. On Saturday, she and helpers with truck-towed trailers brought her horses and ponies home.

“They are definitely happy,” said Aldrich, 62, who knew as a Santa Rosa kid of 8 that she loved horses. It couldn’t be clearer that, like her equines, Sonoma County’s “Pony Lady” is happy, too, to be back at her ranch, albeit living for the time being in a camper.

Shortly after the region’s latest firestorm struck eastern Santa Rosa’s Skyhawk, Los Alamos Road and Oakmont areas in September, the physically and emotionally burned-out Aldrich and her animals were welcomed as guests into the equestrian center on Petaluma Hill Road, south of town, that’s owned by international polo competitor John Ziegler.

Aldrich said it was a blessing to be able to stay among the resident horses and the horse people at Ziegler’s stables. “They totally made me feel at home rather than homeless,” she said.

And yet, she added, “It’s true, there’s no place like home.” She yearned to be back on her ranch across Sonoma Highway from the western end of Oakmont.

It was plain to Aldrich that her herd of 12 sensed that longing in her. “Horses are so intuitive,” she said. She was sure that she saw in the animals’ eyes and behavior that they wanted to be home, too.

With generous help from the community, Aldrich has succeeded in restoring her charred, 6-acre ranch enough for her and her animals to return.

More than 3,000 feet of periphery fence and some gates have been replaced, and water and electrical service once again flow. There’s a temporary hay barn.

“We will keep making improvements, and we’ll get back to where we were,” Aldrich said.

She’s grateful to all of the many individuals and businesses and animal-related organizations that, following the disastrous fire, have assisted her with donations of money or feed or tack or loaned construction equipment.

Among her angels are Larry and Jackie Simons, the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, Friedman’s Home Improvement, Western Farm Center and Garton Tractor and Heritage Salvage.

“We’ve just had some amazing folks reach out and make it happen for us. We’re so grateful for the love and support,” Aldrich said.

It was clever minds at Heritage Salvage and Friedman’s that dreamed up and placed along the edge of Aldrich’s ranch on Sonoma Highway a series of Burma Shave-like signs that invite passers-by to help to assure that The Pony Express will ride again.

High construction costs and limits in Aldrich’s insurance coverage have her feeling that she remains well short of being able to afford to rebuild the ranch. For more on the nonprofit and the effort to raise dollars for projects that include the construction of a hay barn, go to: www.theponyexpressrocks.org.

Now that Aldrich is back on the property with her horses and ponies, all of which she rescued from dangerous or unacceptable conditions, she is eager to welcome back the third essential component of The Pony Express.

The kids.

At the heart of the nonprofit’s mission is the quest to link rescued animals with children who are aged 12-18 and who are eager to learn to ride and care for horses and ponies. Aldrich said it has happened many times that the equine-human bond has proved enormously beneficial both to a child and to a horse.

Among the youngsters who’ve worked on the ranch and helped with the pony-rides concession at Howarth Park are some who have transitioned out of foster care and some who’ve dealt with significant challenges in their lives.

After the fire ravaged the ranch in September, Aldrich had no choice but to suspend her equine-assisted skills training program for teens. It was not possible for kids to come to the Petaluma Hill Road stables at which Aldrich and her animals were guests.

Aldrich told of receiving a request recently from a father whose teen daughter is struggling with a tragedy in the family. He said he thought it might help for his daughter to work with horses, and he asked if she could come help out at The Pony Express.

But Aldrich and the animals were at their temporary home south of town, and it wasn’t possible to have kids there. It broke her heart to tell the man her programs for youth had shut down.

“I’ve never had to do that,” she said. “I’ve never had to say ’no’.”

When the caravan of five pickups and trailers pulled onto the fire-altered Pony Express ranch on Saturday morning, several young people who’d worked there before the fire were back, cheering and applauding the homecoming.

Among them was Cassandra Hilberman, a Cardinal Newman High School senior who has worked and trained at The Pony Express since she was 12. She has created a GoFundMe appeal for help to create at the ranch a wall of honor to pay tribute to the horse-human connection and to “all the ponies and kids who have come, and will come to The Pony Express looking for a second chance, new home, healing, and learning experiences.”

Cassandra’s crowdfunding appeal is at bit.ly/39vDASj.

At the freshly reoccupied ranch, Aldrich champs at the bit to have kids once again fully engaged with the horses and ponies.

Among her challenges is the uncertainty of when health regulations resulting from the COVID-19 crisis will allow her to resume the Howarth Park pony rides. That concession, which operates alongside the city’s carousel and train ride, has historically been a key source of operating dollars for Aldrich’s youth-mentoring programs.

“We hope to be back at Howarth Park in June, but there is no guarantee,” she said.

So The Pony Express recovers from the Glass fire slowly, a step at a time. The move Saturday was a big one.

“At least,” said Aldrich, “we are home.”

You can contact Chris Smith at 707 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.