When the heat and the licks of flame burst the light over her head in the barn, owner Jennifer Schwickerath knew she had to get out.

But the horses wouldn't move.

"They looked at me like, 'Get me out of here.' But when I tried, they wouldn't move," she said. "They were scared stiff."

When the popping stopped, she went back into the burning barn try to save the 15 horses.

She went to Crescendo, the horse she bred and gave to her granddaughter.

"I said 'We have to go, we have to go. We have to go now.'...He just didn't move. I couldn't get him to move," said Schwickerath, 56, who owns the Westbrooke Farm stables off Burnt Hickory Road.

Blue quilted tarps covered the bodies of 15 horses Friday as Schwickerath cried and choked out her sorrow about the Thursday night fire at the eight-year-old barn, one of three on her 25 acres. A neighbor reported the fire and alerted Schwickerath about 11 p.m.

"I tried. I feel so terrible for all the horses," Schwickerath said, her voice trembling.

In addition to Crescendo, a 16-year-old Oldenburg, thoroughbreds, quarter horses, Friesians and an Arabian were among the horses destroyed, Schwickerath said.

The cause of the fire won't be know for at least a week, but Cobb County fire Lt. Dan Dupree said investigators have "no reason to believe that it's anything other than accidental at this point."

Heather Polk's Friesian, Haarlem, was gone, but she was certain Schwickerath had tried everything to get the graceful Dutch horse out.

"Horses don't leave barns when they are on fire," she said. "They stay in their stalls because that's their safe place. She was risking her life trying to get the horses out."

Friday would have been Haarlem's sixth birthday.

Anne Fowler lost two thoroughbreds, Barnabas, 11, and Lucy, 6.

"When I would walk into the barn, they'd stick their heads out and neigh," Fowler said, "Barnabas would rest his head on my husband's shoulder and close his eyes and take a nap.....It's a tragic day for all of us."

The horses gave their owners those quiet moments, the respite from hectic lives, and helped create enduring friendships with other horse owners.

"They are our family and our friends are our family," said Polk. "So, for a while, the family is going to be broken."

Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this report.