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Family Finds Horse Dead From Apparent Heart Attack After Napa Quake Plus Another Shocking Discovery

NAPA (KPIX 5) -- One Napa family made not one, but two discoveries in the aftermath of last weekend's quake.

As far as reports go, no one died during the earthquake, but the Allendorf family says they lost someone dear to them: Donald the horse.

"There was no injury or marks on his body at all. He literally just collapsed," said Tammy Allendorf. 'The loss of life was way more than any loss in our house."

Minutes after the quake hit, Tammy and her husband Dave checked their horses. Most of them were out of control.

"There's no words to describe how scary everything was that night," Tammy said.

Everyone was accounted for, except Donald.

"I realized I didn't see Donald and he was out in his paddock and he was down," Tammy said. "There was no damage to his pen so we knew he hadn't ran into anything."

Tammy says they found him where he called home for the past 15 years. She said he was warm but wasn't breathing.

She believes Donald suffered a heart attack during the shaking. The vets that KPIX 5 spoke to say that's possible, but unusual.

Tammy says he was healthy and at 28 years old, they expected him to live a few more years.

Donald's death wasn't the only thing. They also found part of their land split down the middle.

"I just thought it was the dry dirt had cracked from just the earthquake," Tammy said.

It's become visible how the fault runs straight through Tammy and Dave's property. They say it goes all the way to the crack in the highway.

"Now we have this fault going through it and it's devalued our property, probably in half," Dave said.

This was the crack created after the earthquake. It's possible to stick an entire arm down there and not even touch the bottom.

The couple is hoping that this area is declared a federal disaster so she and others can get the aid to help rebuild what so many lost.

"We're under water again so it's heartbreaking," she said.

The Allendorfs say they are on a first name basis with the USGS which has asked to study the fault line.

EXTENDED COVERAGE:

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