What began as a stretch of freezing weather ended with mass destruction.
A widespread Texas ice storm in January brought down a round pen, a 40-stall barn and most of an arena at a reining horse facility in Whitesboro. For a trainer working to establish himself in the competitive reining industry, the loss struck deep.
Clemerson Barbalho is originally from Brazil. He moved to the States back in 2014. Since then, Barbalho has worked tirelessly to make a name for himself as a trainer and a stallion owner.
“I started my own business, started showing a little more and promoting my stallion,” Barbalho said.
From starting colts and showing three-year-olds to promoting his stallion’s first crop, Barbalho and his team had set some big goals for the year.
“I would never guess something like this would happen,” he said of the property damage from the storm.
Unlike a snowfall that slides from the rooftops, this storm brought small pellets of ice that stuck where they landed. The weight of the accumulation of ice proved to be too much and eventually caused the collapse of the structures.
Two men helping Barbalho had been underneath the round pen less than a minute before it caved in. Two stud colts were still inside.
“If either of the stud colts ran any other direction, it would have killed them,” Barbalho said. Instead, both colts escaped uninjured.
Just hours later, the temperature remained low, and Barbalho got a call saying the arena was going down. By the time he got outside, half the arena was crumbled. The building was attached to a smaller eight-stall barn, full of horses. Barbalho and his crew frantically began moving everything to their 40-stall barn.
Then Barbalho noticed the big barn’s roof shifting. With every stall full, Barbalho and his crew didn’t know what to do. They started moving horses to any place they would fit.
With five horses still inside, the 40-stall barn collapsed.
“We heard it coming down, and we ran to the door,” he said. “Thank goodness nobody was hurt.”
The timing could not have been worse. This year was supposed to showcase the first crop of three-year-olds by his stallion, Spooks Gotta Outfire. Barbalho also had 20 two-year-old horses scheduled to begin training, which for most horses is a critical stage in their performance career.
“This was the year we planned to really show how good the offspring are and invest in them,” Barbalho said.
Instead, training has been delayed. Young horses were relocated to a friend’s house. Broodmares were turned out to free up limited space. A neighboring arena now serves as the temporary training facility, with horses crossing between properties to get worked.
For a trainer who moved to the United States and launched his independence in a foreign country, the barn represented more than an infrastructure. It was a symbol of progress and investment.
But the wreckage caused perspective to take hold.
When the barn collapsed, Barbalho and his family had been watching a film about a woman who lost her zoo and animals during the devastation of World War II. She turned tragedy into hope by using the space to hide Polish Jewish people from the German Nazis.
Over the next couple of weeks, while walking through the remains of his facility, the imagery from the film lingered in Barbalho’s mind.
“It reminded me of the film; the only difference is that my daughters were inside the house safe, and that is God doing good work,” Barbalho said.
For the trainer, resilience has been rooted in faith.
He references Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” a reminder that even when the bigger picture isn’t visible, the next step can be.
“At this moment, I only have the lamp for my feet, so I’m not falling. God is taking care of me,” Barbalho said.
He returns to this perspective often. No horses were injured. No one was trapped beneath the debris. His family is safe.
“God’s word says that we should not worry about anything, but make all our needs known in prayer,” Barbalho said. “Three-hundred-sixty-five times the Bible says do not fear, and that is what I’m trying to do.”
The storm may have taken down buildings, but it did not dismantle the foundation and the faith built within Barbalho’s program.
“I want to use this situation in favor of God’s kingdom, show people my faith and encourage people who are going through difficult times to seek God,” Barbalho said.
As they begin to clean up and reconstruct their plans, the Barbalho family continues to stay strong and push through uncontrollable circumstances.
With no insurance coverage on the property, rebuilding will come entirely out of pocket. Barbalho has begun selling a few horses to help offset the cost of cleanup and reconstruction. This process will be lengthy, but the goal is to rebuild stronger.
In a sport defined by control and precision, Barbalho knows some things are left to faith. The key is to stay strong no matter how challenging things may seem.
