By: Matthew M. Brendal
EMERGENCY EVACUATION PLAN Questions that should be answered prior to an emergency: Will all my horses enter a trailer easily or at all?
A horse may be a slow loader or is a problem loading during the most patient and perfect conditions. Sometimes horses may only be hauled once in a trailer after they are purchased and then never need to be put in a trailer again. I would highly recommend that about every few months you trailer your horse in a trailer that may be used for his evacuation. I would also recommend driving him at least a few miles during this time. You may need to get your horse to the veterinarian and requires your horse to be put in a trailer. It will be much less stressful on the horse during a time of sickness or injury if the horse is calm about loading and riding in trailer. The type and size of the trailer can make a difference to the horse. There may be a big difference to a horse getting in a small one-horse trailer versus a large stock trailer. If you have the chance try to get the horse in as many different trailers you can just for practice.
Will my horse allow a stranger to load him into a trailer?
Loading into a trailer may be one of the hardest things to get your horse to do. If a stranger or person is helping you out because you are on vacation or you can’t get to the horse’s location, will that person be able catch and load your horse?
If you have someone who takes care of your horses have them load your horse every so often especially if they are not accustom to handling horses. Also have a contact person they can get a hold of if they need help or questions on what to do. If possible have different people and different genders load your horse.
Where will the horses be taken to and how far is it?
Do you know where the site(s) is that you will be taking the horse(s)? If you have to take two trips, you should know how long it would take, adding time for traffic jams associated with these types of problems. Will you have enough gas to get there? Where is the nearest veterinarian from that site? Do you have a map on how to get to the evacuation site and does anyone who watches your horses know the location of the map?
Is it possible to catch each horse quickly?
Many horses love to play you can’t catch me. At the best of times this game can wear on you and get you upset, during an emergency it could cause the horse their life or serious injury. Develop techniques and training that will stop this. A good training program will ensure that your horse acts properly during an emergency. If you cannot catch your horse(s) what will you do? The last resort should be to let them loose and fend for themselves. This is a very dangerous option for the horse and vehicle traffic associated with disasters, not to mention collecting them when the problems are over. Horses in the wild commonly travel over 20 miles a day.
Will the horse(s) towing vehicle be available at all times?
A horse trailer with no vehicle to pull it can be huge problem in an emergency. It is also important to ensure the trailer is in good working condition. Ensure the tires are inflated to proper pressure all the time.
Do you have any equine first aid skills to treat any injuries?
Every horseman should have a basic knowledge of first aid. Your knowledge should include how to recognize and treat minor cuts, major cuts, severe hoof damage, laminitis, colic, eye injuries and high fever. You should also know minimum sanitation and health standards to keep you horse healthy.
Do I have any clean fresh water, hay or feed at the new location?
Many times people are in hurry to get the horses and themselves away from a problem as fast as possible and have no time to get food or water. During a natural disaster clean water may be hard to get. Having portable water containers with clean water will be worth its weight in gold. You may want some pre-staged during a hurricane or tornado threat.
As I touched on earlier, horse owners may have horses with injuries or a situation with many injuries that may overwhelm any veterinary assistance. A natural disaster such as a tornado or hurricane has the potential to cause numerous injuries and or trapped horses.
Horse owners that are involved with the disaster may have been able to bring something or know information that will increase the comfort or health of your horse(s). Other horse owners can also provide a pool of people to provide watch over the animals or help in the feeding schedule if you need to do something away from the evacuation area.
If someone is watching your horse(s) do they know your plan?
When you are away from your horse such as traveling on vacation or work, is the person responsible aware of an emergency and evacuation plan? This book can be used as a guidebook for that person. You can leave phone numbers and names of points of contact.
Have you met with the Humane Society, Emergency Animal Rescue
service or horse owner groups on tips/locations/support/needs during a major emergency prior to that emergency?
The main point is to be familiar with basic plan and with how everything will really work. Do they have a secondary place if the primary evacuation place is destroyed during the disaster? Driving to these locations will also help, especially if you find two routes incase one is closed off due to being blocked during the disaster.
Have you ever conducted drills for a major emergency?
Conducting drills for different emergencies will help smooth the rough edges and find out what is lacking. Conducting drills can be as easy as making a collection of index cards with different emergencies and have someone pick it at random and then walk through the problem. I would start out simple and then build on it. If you belong to a horse club you can start a meeting with an emergency topic and see how other people would handle it or if someone has had that problem and how did they handle it.
This may seem like an easy task but when your bay mare is in a pasture with 20 other bay mares how are you going know for sure.
You may be able to use the colored markers used to mark cattle to put your name and phone number on the horse’s side if you are forced to let your horse go free. When things settle down and your horse is eating the lawn of someone 3 miles away they just give you a call and you have your horse back. Some people even use orange cattle markers to mark their horses during elk and deer season.
Do you have enough medical supplies for duration of disaster?
If your horse has a medical problem requiring medicine or other medical supplies do you have enough. If your horse has a cut that may get infected from flooding do you have a way to cover it, such as duct tape and plastic bag for cuts on the leg(s)?
What is your system to positively identify your horse(s)?
How can other horse owners assist me?
How can I assist any other horse owners?
The time to make an emergency evacuation plan is well before it happens. Moving or assisting one horse during an emergency such as a tornado, flooding, hurricane, forest fire, earthquake, volcanic eruption and even large-scale terrorist attacks can be a very difficult task. If you own more than one horse the task can become completely unmanageable. Planning and conducting an emergency drill may save your horse’s life or prevent serious injury.
Because of recent events more people are in tune with news and usually keep one ear open to the TV and radio. This is your best weapon to a fast, safe and comfortable paced evacuation. Preparation and planning increase good luck.
