Flooding Throughout Mid-South Highlights Need for Emergency Preparedness for Horses

By Becky Mueller
 
Disaster preparedness is important for all animals, but with large animals such as horses, extra consideration should be taken in planning and preparing because of their size and the requirements for transporting them.  If you think you only need to plan for a disaster if you live in a flood plain, on the coast, or on an earthquake fault line, you are mistaken.  Disasters are not confined to these places, and can include barn fires, hazardous material spills, propane line explosions, and train derailments.  Any of these situations might lead to evacuation of horses from where they are located.  So before an emergency is the time to plan and prepare.
 
When a disaster strikes, you will have limited time to react and limited time to evacuate your horses.  If you have a kit and a plan in place, the process will be much easier.  If you are unprepared or wait until the last minute to evacuate, you may be told by officials that you must leave your horses behind.  Once you leave your property, there is no way to know how long it will be before you will be allowed to return.  If unprepared, you horses may go without food, water or care for days or weeks.  Here are some suggestions to help you prepare:

• Make advance arrangements for trailering your horse in case of an emergency.  If you do not own a trailer, or a large enough trailer for all of your horses, have friends on standby to help.
• Plan ahead.  Know where you can take your horses in an emergency evacuation.  Know which animal shelters, campgrounds, veterinarians, friends and relatives on your evacuation routes can take horses and have the resources to keep and care for them for several weeks.
• Develop a buddy system.  Inform friends and neighbors of your evacuation plans.  Post detailed instructions in several places-including at the barn and on the horse trailer to ensure that they are accessible to emergency workers or your friends in case you are not home when it is time to evacuate.
• Make sure you have a copy of your horses’ Coggins test(s), vaccination records, identification photographs, medical history, allergies, and emergency telephone numbers stored in a water-tight envelope.  Keep them in an easily accessible place to grab before you evacuate.
• Keep halters ready for your horses.  Halters should include a tag with the following information:  horse’s name, you name and contact number, alternate emergency number.
• Consider having your horse embedded with a ID microchip.  Veterinarians and shelters have universal microchip readers. In the event that you are separated from your horse or your horse is separated from its halter, this chip can be read and you can be contacted.  The chip is only good if you keep your information current in the database.
• Prepare a basic first aid kit that is portable and easily accessible.
• Be sure to have on hand a supply or water, feed, hay, plus any medications for several days for each horse you are evacuating.
• If your horses are not accustomed to loading in a trailer, practice with them until they load comfortably.  The day of evacuation is not a good time for a horse to learn to load in a trailer.
• There may be times when taking your horses with you is impossible during an emergency.  You must consider different types of disasters, and decide whether your horse would be better off in a barn or loose in a field. 

Prior preparation is a necessity when planning for your horses to deal with a disaster. If you have any questions about disaster preparedness for horses, please call Becky Muller at 901-752-1207 or email at beckymuller@utk.edu.  The UT Extension Service offers its programs and information to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.  Information for this article was taken from the brochure “Disaster Preparedness for Horses” by the Humane Society of the United States.
 
 
 
 
Becky Muller
Extension Agent II
UT Extension-Shelby County
7777 Walnut Grove Rd.
Suite B, Box 21
Memphis, TN 38120
901-752-1207
beckymuller@utk.edu