Woman Faces Backlash For Leaving Horse Behind During Hurricane Milton

A woman living on the east coast of Florida shared her heart-wrenching story about the steps she took before leaving her horse behind after Hurricane Milton made landfall.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm. Throughout the night, the storm tracked across the Florida peninsula before exiting the state into the Atlantic Ocean.

Many people evacuated their homes, and those who had pets were urged to bring their animals with them. However, it wasn’t as easy for people with larger animals, like Victoria Louisa Sanders and her horse, Midas.

Sanders shared a heartbreaking picture on Threads detailing the steps she took for Midas’ safety before she sought shelter on Wednesday.

“Braided my contact info into my horses mane. Prayed over him and kissed him goodbye. I don’t know what Milton will bring, but I pray that Midas will be okay through this,” she wrote with the picture of his name tag braided into his mane.

The post has received over 13,000 likes, 907 responses and 177 shares as of Thursday afternoon. Many people pushed back against Sanders’s decision and questioned why she would leave her horse behind.

“Why are you leaving your animals? Stop,” one person said with the face-palm emoji.

“Not me bringing my horse to an apartment idgaf,” one user said. “I would stay with my animals 100% absolutely no way I’m leaving my animals I’d sleep in a field with them.”

“I’m just wondering why not loading the horse into the trailer and drive away,” another user said. “You drive away anyway, don’t you?”

“My car isn’t strong enough to pull a trailer, and gas stations along the highways to get out of state ran out of gas,” Sanders said in response to one post.

She also explained that Midas lives at a barn, and she lives in a condo on the east coast of central Florida. She feared that the storm might spook Midas, and the horse could bolt. She wanted to ensure her contact information was located on him in case a stranger found him.

“I live on a tiny barrier islands, Midas’ barn is more inland. I drove into Orlando to be more inland for my own safety, but will see Midas tomorrow,” she said.

In a follow-up post on Thursday, Sanders confirmed that Midas was safe and survived the storm just fine. Newsweek reached out to Sanders through Threads for comment.

“Unfortunately, he can’t come in the apartment that I evacuated to. He has to stay at the barn where I board him. [Precautions] were taken for his safety, but I couldn’t spend the night in the barn,” she said.

Others spoke up in defense of Sanders and her decision.

“It’s not as simple as scooping up your 10 pound Miniature Poodle to evacuate,” one person said. “This is a HORSE (in case you missed that). I find this move to be so incredibly heartwarming and heartbreaking (if something negative WERE TO HAPPEN) at the same time. This individual is doing everything they can to protect their horse and y’all have the NERVE to sit back and throw out judgement as if you know ANYTHING…”

“What do you [expect] to do with the Horse? Put it in her bedroom with her?” another questioned. “It’s a very large animal, there are certain things you can do which is obviously what they’re doing where it is but there’s not a lot else she can do.”