Tornadoes…floods…fires…. Unfortunately, disasters happen. Unexpectedly. Make sure your horse is well taken care of by including them in your disaster planning. And June is National Pet Preparedness month…a great time to make sure you have a plan in place to keep your horse safe!
Copies of Important Information
Make sure all the important information you need for your horse is kept together somewhere handy and easily accessible. This includes their basic info (breed, age, etc), as well as your contact information, emergency contact information, contact information for veterinarians/trainers/etc, copies of their vaccine records, up to date Coggins papers, microchip information, insurance details, copies of registration papers, etc. It’s a good idea to include recent photos of your horse as well for identification purposes.
It’s a good idea to keep several copies of this information. Hard copies in a binder as well as digital copies on a flash drive are both really good ideas. Just make sure to keep them in different locations in case a disaster hits when you’re away from home or you can’t get to a particular location.
Identification
Unlike dogs and cats, horses don’t usually wear identification tags. However, in a disaster, it’s very important that your contact information be closely associated with your horses. There are several ways to go about this, but most in general the identification method should be durable, easy to read, and (most importantly) safe for the horse. Options to consider are pet ID tags on a breakaway halter, livestock ear tags labelled with contact information and braided into the horse’s mane, writing contact information the horse’s side with a livestock marking pen, etc. Ideally, the horse should have several forms of ID in case one is lost or unable to be read.
You should also consider having your horse microchipped for additional identification purposes. Just make sure to keep the contact information up to date with the microchip company.
Appropriately Fitted Halter and Lead
It seems like a simple thing, but each horse should have their own leadrope and a halter that fits. Since it isn’t often that every single horse on the farm wears a halter at the same time, many owners actually have less halters than the number of horses. Not to mention all the halters that have been outgrown or damaged. Making sure that you have the correct number of halters in good condition and the correct size is important in being able to make sure your horses are safe during a disaster.
Evacuation
Getting a horse out of a dangerous situation is a bit more involved than a dog or a cat. They don’t fit in carriers and they aren’t accepted at hotels. So it’s very important to make sure you have an evacuation plan before something happens.
First off, it’s important to make sure that your horse will load readily into your trailer…or someone else’s. Practice loading regularly and take advantage any opportunity to load your horse in someone else’s trailer as well. If you don’t have your own trailer, make plans for how you would move your horse in an emergency situation.
Identify locations where your horse could go if you needed to evacuate. A friend’s farm, training facilities, show grounds, etc can offer short term boarding options during a disaster.
Supplies
Consider the basic things you will need to care for your horse during a disaster. This includes things such as buckets, feed, shavings, etc. Because of the bulk of these items, it is difficult to keep an extra supply on hand. However, you may want to consider keeping extras of some small basics such as buckets, halters and leadropes, a manure fork, etc in your trailer so that you have them on hand if you needed to evacuate quickly.
If your horse is on special medications or food, you may wish to keep extra of this around to make sure it is available during a disaster situation. Just make sure to check and rotate your stock regularly to ensure that it is fresh and ready to go.
Horses drink a lot! Each horse needs approximately 12-20 gallons of water each day. More if the weather is hot. So making sure you have plenty of safe water is of upmost importance in an emergency situation. Consider filling multiple tanks, buckets, even your bathtub before an emergency to make sure you have plenty of water on hand.
It’s also a good idea to have a well-stocked first aid kit on hand. Check out this blog post for ideas of what to include in a horse first aid kit.
In addition to a first aid kit, you should keep a basic road hazard kit on hand if you’ll be trailering.
For More Information
Check out these great websites:
ASPCA: Disaster Planning Tips for Horse Owners
HSUS: Disaster Planning for Horses
AAEP Disaster Planning for Horse Farms
