There's been something missing from Granbury's historic town square. For the last two weeks, the horse-drawn carriage that brings lovers on romantic dates and history buffs on tours has been absent.
"You kind of miss the clip clop," explained Robin Arquette, assistant to carriage driver, Wendy Inga. "I think there's a magic to it. A magic of a time gone by."
Earlier this month, Inga was critically injured in a freak accident while trying to get her horse, Bubba, out of his trailer. She slipped and was crushed. Inga has been in the intensive care unit at Harris Methodist in Fort Worth ever since.
"When a 2,200 pound draft horse is standing on you, it's critical," said Arquette. "You have lots of broken things."
But Inga also had lots of friends. Some of them, she didn't even know.
"I knew that she needed prayers and she probably was going to need some financial help, too," said Melina Ray, owner of the Nutt House Hotel and Granbury's unofficial town historian. "So I just started trying to get the word out."
Word spread on social media, and socially through the greater horse community.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"The horse community itself is a large, huge family," said Stockyards carriage driver, Laurie Reed. "There is always people that we help out whenever they're in need."
Inga was in need.
Reed is among the carriage drivers across North Texas stepping up to fill in for Inga's bookings to help keep her business afloat until she gets better.
They money will go a GoFundMe page that is raising money for Inga's medical expenses and her horses' care.
"We have a passion for what we do," explained Reed. "So when you have a passion for something, that can define love, and you'll just help everybody that you can."
In Granbury, Ray is looking forward to the day Inga can return to work and breathe life into the town's history.
"I think people forget sometimes that if we just are good to each other," Ray said. "That's really what it's all about."
