Storm does thousands in damage  to Crider Barrel Racing Barns

The Crider family was busy cleaning up Thursday after an EF-1 tornado that packed 95 miles per hour winds partially destroyed their three horse barns the evening before at 11940 Lexington Street.

Thousands of dollars in damages occurred when the roof was ripped away from a large portion of the Crider Barrel Racing Barns along with other structural damage.

Although, still in a state of shock from the devastation, they were thankful that no family member or horses were hurt seriously, although Chad did have a close call. He was at the barn when the high winds and rain struck about 7 p.m. He was knocked down and his eyes filled with sawdust. He managed to crawl underneath a nearby white pickup truck where he remained safe. The incident left him sore and bruised.

His father and mother, Charles and Elizabeth, were 150 yards from the barns and rode out the storm at their residence. Their other son, Clint, was at his residence on Tara Lane and didn’t know about the storm on Lexington St. since it was only raining hard at his house.

“This is the third time I’ve been in a tornado,” said Charles. “The first time was when I was seven years old in 1952 and the next time was in 1971 when the east side of Huntingdon had a lot of damage.”

Chad’s wife Heidi, who was picking up scattered items around the barn, said she was on her way to Medina to help her friend Rachel Carrington whose barn had been destroyed by the wind at the time the storm struck Huntingdon.

However, the wind became so strong that she turned around and returned to Huntingdon.

One horse that is about to foul was in a stall in the rear of one of the barns. Eleven horses were in another portion of  the barns and four were in the nearby pasture.

Some of the barnes were built 30 years ago while some portions of the barn are older. Charles, Chad, and Clint have all participated in barrel racing and have won numerous awards over the years in the sport.

“We’ve been around the world and back barrel racing,” said Charles who has won several state awards.

Chad has won the AQHA championship three times and Clint has took home the title four times. Clint now works at West Tennessee Public Utility District and is no longer involved in the business.

Tim Carlton and Clint’s employer brought their equipment to help with the cleanup. Debris was scattered all about the field behind the barn.

This is the second time that the barns have been damaged. The other time was from a fire in August 2017 that damaged the middle section.

Inside one of the barns, Charles looked up at a cloudy sky through rafters that was once covered by a roof.

“We plan to fix it all back,” he said.