Waterloo woman loses horse in tornado days before opening equine therapy business

WATERLOO, Neb. (WOWT) – Friday’s tornado brought tragedy for Victoria Fluhart and her husband, Justin. In November, they moved to Waterloo to start an equine business on the property owned by Brandon Johnson of Jamico Construction.

Fluhart was days from an open house for her equine therapy business, when the storm came raging in. Her first instinct was saving the horses on the property by putting herself at risk in the process.

“[I] got whacked pretty good and went fuzzy for a while. When I came back up, yeah, saw the devastation, saw the death,” she said.

Her mare, Onyx, was found dead. Fluhart got Onyx when she was 13 and had her for 18 years.

“Not many horses get to be a friend, a partner, champion, business partner, therapist,” said Fluhart.

Equine therapy was a dream she looked to fulfill alongside her friend. Although Onyx is gone now, she’s not letting it go.

“It would have never been enough time with her. But I’m very glad that she started this dream and I’m going to do everything I can to develop it for her and for myself and for the community.”

TORNADO SURVEY

Fluhart said it’s thanks to the community’s help with clean-up that she and her husband are moving forward. After demolition, they’ll start new.

“It’s not quite excitement yet but it is fertile ground for an opportunity to blossom and we’re going to tend to that and water our grass,” she said.

The Fluharts said they plan to build a small building where they can eventually host their open house. They said thanks to community donations, they’re hoping to see it happen this summer.

TORNADO CLEANUP

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