Surviving the first five years running her own business was something Meredith Zajac had heard is a milestone that projects long-term success.
Things would “start to get easier” after year five, she said.
Her Wyoming Horsemanship Academy had almost achieved that marker last year after launching from scratch in 2021. But then came a barn fire one morning less that two weeks out from Christams.
“It was the classic nightmare of someone on a Saturday morning knocking at my door at 6:30 a.m.,” she said. “Luckily, it was during the day and wasn’t an all-night thing.”
Her barn that held about 10 of her clients’ saddles, eight student lesson saddles and tack, as well as at least 12 saddles of her own — some show saddles and tack included — melted in the heat of the fire.
Zajac’s RV that was parked beside the barn, which served as storage for much of her outdoor guiding activity, was bare metal and ashes.
Two sows and their seven piglet babies also were lost.
Zajac was told the cause was traced to an electrical issue.
The heat of the blaze in the metal-sided building melted saddle stirrups. A photo after the blaze shows pages from a book on wildflowers with papers blackened and singed.
One blessing was that the wind was not blowing, or other structures on their property, including the trees next to her home, may have caught fire as well, she said.
Fortunately, the horses on the 5-acre property were in private paddocks at the time and away from the barn area. Zajac said there was no hay in the barn because she uses round bales.
The barn had a classroom that she used to teach students about horse anatomy, nutrition, recognizing things like colic, basic first aid and other “unmounted” lessons.
She estimates “thousands of dollars” worth of lesson material and items were lost from that part of her business. And then there are the personal things that can’t be replaced.
The remains of the Wyoming Horsemanship Academy barn smolders following the fire. (Courtesy Meredith Zajac) 
Meredith Zajac’s RV with many personal items as well as specialized camping gear she used as a guide was destroyed as well as the barn. At right, one of the burned up saddles. (Courtesy Meredith Zajac)
‘$100,000 In Personal Stuff’
“I just moved in here in April,” she said. “I lost camping gear, I lost some childhood stuff that I’ll never see again … there’s a lot of very personal stuff beyond my livelihood and lesson program and training that I will never see again. And that’s kind of tough to swallow.”
Among those items are high school journals and as an adopted child, she had kept information about her family history. There was also show gear and awards that she was planning to decorate the tack room with at some point.
“Probably lost about $100,000 of personal stuff,” she said.
Then when talking to her insurance company, she learned that the losses would not be covered. Not the RV, not the saddles, tack or structure.
“I absolutely thought I had the right coverage. I don’t think I’d be risking my entire livelihood thinking I didn’t,” Zajac said.
Since then, she has investigated the insurance issue and industry with more scrutiny and admits to learning a lesson. She has been fielding calls from others asking if they can “learn” from her experience with the insurance company.
Despite the devastating blow, Zajac has found a way to keep up with her lessons and training horses. She said she had to, it’s her livelihood. People from the “horse community” stepped up by dropping off saddles and tack to loan her.
A fundraiser by some friends who own a business raised $5,000. A local brewery sponsored a trivia night with proceeds going to Zajac.
Her Business And ‘Passion’
Karen Zajac, her sister, launched a GoFundMe fundraiser that has raised money as well.
“Meredith has poured her heart and soul into creating a welcoming business to both clients, livestock, and horses. If you've never met her, you can trust me when I say, she's been horse crazy as long as I can remember,” Karen Zajac wrote. “She poured her passion and love of all animals (especially horses) into a career for herself and has truly made her dreams into a reality.”
Zajac said there were also people who just sent her a contribution through the Venmo app as a means to help.
Currently, the twisted metal, ashes, and destruction left by the flames have been removed and the construction of a small tack shed is underway, she said.
After moving to the Cody community about 10 years ago, she is touched by the show of support from those around her.
“I think what makes me feel good is that enough people in the community rallied around helping us stay afloat,” she said. “It's hard not to throw in the towel a little bit and just do something else, … but I feel like I started it from nothing and I got here. So yeah, I'm already a little ahead of where I started, so I might as well just keep going.”
The Wyoming Horsemanship Academy offers horse tune-ups, colt starting, as well as teaching horses how to work cattle, roping, carrying a flag, deal with traffic and pack game.
Horsemanship students learn the foundation of horse safety and the aspects of horse handling that include saddle and groundwork. Students learn how to catch a horse, groom it, put on saddles and tack and more.
“I just love doing what I do,” Zajac said. “I just love having more people to teach and more clients.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
