MILTON – Rockwood and Guelph residents Scott Lecain and Trevor Forgie were co-recipients of the Outstanding Groom Award at the 2018 O’Brien awards presented in Mississauga on Feb. 2.
Their courageous efforts helped save the lives of 33 horses from a barn fire on Dec. 21 at First Line Training Centre near Guelph leased at the time by trainer Mark Steacy.
“I was pretty honoured really,” said Lecain of the win. “I have been to the O’Brien awards before to represent other people, like horse of the year, but this time it was for me.”
When the fire call came in at around 1:30am, Lecain was at home but he said he wasted no time driving from Rockwood to the barn.
“I wasn’t really thinking, I just knew I had to get there fast,” he said.
Lecain and Forgie were two of the first people to arrive at the scene.
When Lecain arrived, the blaze was in full force.
“When I got there I could see the red flames through the roof and nothing but black, it was all smoke inside,” said Lecain.
With their sweaters pulled up over their faces, Lecain and Forgie went into the barn, relying on their situational awareness to locate the horses in the heavy smoke.
“I kept going doing what I do and there was another guy Trevor Forgie and he was really good, he went in a couple times moving horses into the fields,” he said.
Once the horses were brought out of the barn, Lecain and Forgie quickly moved them into fields and available stalls in one of the other five barns away from the fire.
“You can’t let a horse loose… like if you get them out of the barn, they run back in, that’s their home, so you’ve got to put them in fields or trailers or other barns,” said Lecain.
Despite their efforts, five horses perished in the fire. According to Lecain, a further nine horses currently receive treatment at Guelph University for smoke
inhalation and trauma and one had to undergo surgery for colic.
“He is doing okay now but all of the horses are back to training and now it’s about going forward,” said Lecain.
While the barn is still in the process of being rebuilt, Lecain and Forgie are working for Steacy at Mohawk Raceway.
Lecain has worked as a groom for Steacy for five years but his experience goes beyond that. In total he has worked with horses for 44 of his 49 years.
He was jogging his first horse at five years old. Both Lecain’s parents raced horses and his grandmother, Shirley Gay, is in the hall of fame for being the first Canadian female driver.
“… So it’s in my blood,” Lecain said.
Lecain and Forgie had worked with the three horses that had perished in the fire, whether it was putting them away in stalls or occasionally racing them. However, Lecain has been focused on continuing his work at Mohawk raceway.
“You can’t let things bother you,” Lecain said.
“I have a motto: life is like reading a book; turn the page, whatever happened on one, it’s already over.”
