Barn fire destroys Jim Paxson’s Pennsylvania stable

No horses or hounds were hurt, but well-known huntsman and ‘chase outrider ‘lost everything’ in blaze lthree weeks ago.

This article by by Betsy Burke Donley is reprinted with thanks to the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation.

At the bottom of this story is a way through the Foundation that tax fee donations can be made to help Jim Paxson,

Paxson has spent his life helping other people, so anything that can be done to help Paxson now would be hugely appreciated. 

By Betsy Burke Donley

KIRKWOOD, PA.--Just after lunch on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday, the rhythm of chores and quiet routine at Funnel Lake Farm were broken by a phone call that would change everything.

Jim PaxsonJim Paxson had been taking a midday pause inside his farmhouse, Chinese takeout on the table and the low-volume hum of the Weather Channel in the background. Outside, preparations were already in motion for the next day’s River Hills Foxhounds closing meet – a favorite fixture along Fishing Creek near the Susquehanna. The hound truck was staged. The van was ready. The post-lunch break was, as Paxson would later describe it, classic "universal downtime in the horse world."

The phone rang.

“My Amish neighbor called,” Paxson recalled. “She says, you got flames shooting out the top of your barn.”

What followed unfolded in minutes but will linger for a lifetime.

Race against the fire

Paxson ran from the house in work boots, longjohns, and a T-shirt to find his 18th-century bank barn fully engulfed. The structure – stone-foundation, timber-framed and rooted into the hillside – had stood since the 1700s. Now, it was an inferno.

His first thoughts were for the animals.

 

THE HORSES were safe, turned out in the pasture on the mild spring afternoon. The hounds, normally vocal Penn Marydels kenneled about 100 feet away, had gathered silently in the grass yard, transfixed by the flames.

Jim Paxson ar Mount Harmon-Wicomico Point-to-PointWith fire concentrated at one end of the barn, Paxson moved quickly. He drove the horse van out of danger, then repositioned the hound truck. He tried to reach his Bluebird RV and tractor, but the heat blistered paint and burned his hand when he touched the door.

Still, he went back.

He grabbed what he could – saddles, bridles, armfuls of tack – until younger brother Timothy arrived and stopped him from reentering. Among the last items saved: a dozen custom-made Amish hunting breastplates.

Total loss

Ten fire engines responded, containing the blaze and protecting nearby structures. No people or animals were injured.

But the barn – and nearly everything inside it – was gone.

Lost in the fire were decades of accumulated farm detritus, tools and equipment: horse feed, hound food, hay, spare tack and 30 years’ worth of gear. Sixty freshly cleaned and repaired horse blankets, just picked up days earlier, were reduced to ash.

“It’s just a mess,” Paxson said quietly. “A depressing, awful mess.” When he was interviewed almost a week after the fire, the skeletal remains of the barn still smoldered, a smoky reminder of the horror of that afternoon.

Investigators have yet to determine the cause.

Community response

Paxson's barn desroyedIf the fire revealed the fragility of a lifetime’s work, the hours that followed revealed something else: the strength of a community.

Neighbors and friends mobilized almost immediately. Word spread through conversations, social media and the River Hills network. By evening, people were arriving with rugs and supplies – some items well-worn, others brand new.

The River Hills closing meet scheduled for April 1 was naturally canceled, but Paxson himself pressed on. Just days later, he was back in the saddle, serving as an outrider at the Brandywine Races.

“I have to do something to keep myself sane,” he said.

For now, he’s using a neighbor’s barn to wash and prep his horses for the weekend outrider work, even as he and his wife, Doris, work through the painstaking process of inventorying what was lost.

Amid the devastation, a plan is taking shape – one rooted in tradition.

Paxson’s Amish neighbors have proposed a barn raising.

“They’re all excited and want to help rebuild,” he said. “They’re good friends.”

It's a relationship built over years of quiet reciprocity - Paxson did many a late-night snow clearing with his big V-blade and blower so trucks could pass to collect the Amish milk. There were shared tools, shared labor, shared lives.

“We’re neighbors,” Paxson said. “Neighbors help neighbors.”

A life in horses

At 78, Paxson is a fixture in the regional equestrian world. A lifelong horseman, he competed as a junior, in 1968 winning a national jumper title with his thoroughbred, Illion, and won a puissance class at Youngstown in Ohio, clearing 7’3”.

He’s long served as joint-master and huntsman with River Hills, while also working as an outrider at races at hunt meets across Pennsylvania and Delaware. The roles blend safety, tradition and community engagement.

Just days after the fire, he returned to that role.

Out on the rain-soaked course at Brandywine last Sunday, Paxson found something unexpected: calm.

“It actually felt good" as the chilly rain fell on him, he said. "Oddly settling.”

There are still many unknowns – insurance claims, rebuilding costs, the long road back. Some mornings, Paxson admits, are harder than others.

“Actually, today was the first morning I didn’t throw up.”

Even in the midst of uncertainty, there are signs of forward motion. His next immediate task? Restocking hay at the Kirkwood auction.

Then, eventually, rebuilding.

“I’m fit. I’m not dead yet,” Paxson said, pausing. “My heart is breaking, but I’ll keep going.”

In the ashes of a centuries-old barn, a new structure may grow back. As before, it’s not constructed of merely timber and stone, but of the same enduring materials that have sustained Funnel Lake all along: resilience, tradition and friends who circle when it matters most.

How to Help

TGSF will be funding a grant to the River Hills Foxhounds to help them feed their horses and hounds and cover outrider expenses while they rebuild.

To help us grant even more, you can make a tax deductible donation to TGSF - memo "River Hills" - all the info is on our website here: https://tgsteeplechasefoundation.org/donate-now/

Alternately, you can donate to River Hills directly, to help get them back on their feet. Note that donations to River Hills (a 501(c)7 organization) are not tax deductible: https://www.riverhillsfoxhounds.com/paypal.html

River Hills will be at steeplecase meets throughout the spring. If you are there, please wave and say hi to the crew - they could use our emotional support right now as well.