A New Brunswick couple is taking stock after the rescue horses they care for needed rescuing again.

Bill and Teri Imrie run a centre for rescue horses — animals on their way to the slaughterhouse or rescued from abuse — in St. Stephen, N.B.

Now those horses are without shelter after the roof of Imries’ indoor arena and riding stable collapsed under the weight of snow build-up.

Nine horses were inside at the time.

“The firefighters were fantastic,” said Teri, recalling Thursday night rescue operation.

“It took a few hours to cut them all out, one at a time. It was kind of scary,” she said.

To Teri and Bill, the horses are members of the family.

“They are rescues. Some of the horses that were in this arena when it collapsed have come from horrible situations — we didn’t even know if they would live,” Teri said.

The cold temperatures in New Brunswick in the past two months contributed to the collapse: a buildup of rooftop snow simply hasn’t melted.

The Imries are waiting to learn how much their insurance will cover, and are clearing snow from their outdoor corral in the meantime.

Bill believes there will be little of the stable that’s salvageable.

“There won’t be much … I’m assuming it will all be coming down,” he said.

But the Imries are grateful the situation wasn’t worse: scheduled classes at the time were cancelled because Teri wasn’t feeling well.

“It’s incredible that nobody was in there, nobody was hurt, and the horses are fine,” said Bill.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron