The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of an early morning fire that destroyed a large barn and stable at Knowlton Corner Farm.
A horse being boarded and a pair of cats were lost in the early morning blaze.
When firefighters arrived at 341 Knowlton Corner Road about 4 a.m., the barn and stable were engulfed in flames, according to Clyde Ross, deputy chief of Farmington Fire and Rescue.
About a dozen horses were outside when the fire started and were unharmed.
The owners board and train horses in the 60-by-120-foot barn with an inside training ring built in the mid-1800s. They have lived at the farm at Knowlton Corner and Seamon roads since the mid-1990s.
The barn was insured.
Local farmers are offering stall space and hay to tend the remaining horses. Most of the horses stay outside with a shelter available.
The owners were alerted to the blaze by passers-by and were able to move their personal vehicles but lost a trailer, two jeeps, a horse trailer and a dump truck. They also lost a boat and two snowmobiles stored under the barn.
Heat from the blaze melted the siding on the farmhouse, but it and a garage were saved.
The family-run farm features horseback riding lessons and boarding, a horse camp, therapeutic riding for the disabled, gardens and a bakery. Each year, the interior of the barn is decorated at Halloween and a fundraiser to support the local animal shelter is held.
According to reports, the family had just completed a new bakery on the side of the stable and were planning to open the bakery on Wednesday.