PLANNING AHEAD:
Horse Owners and Disaster Preparedness
JESSICA JAHIEL, PHD
When faced with a fire, flood, hurricane, or tornado, horse-owners ask themselves “What
should I do? What can I do? What about the horses? Should we stay or go? What should I take?
What should I know?”
The expression “Failing to plan is planning to fail” doesn’t always apply — it’s simply not
possible to plan for every possibility. We can’t outrun or outplan all disasters, but we can think
about those questions and make some general preparations.
I hope that this brief overview will give horse owners some ideas and encourage them to devise
plans and precautions that are appropriate for their situations. A lost horse is every horse owner’s
nightmare, hence the focus on horse I.D.
Can you find an evacuation location?
In any given area, some people will keep their horses at boarding stables, some will have their
horses at home, some will have farms of various sizes, and some will run boarding or training or
riding stables. Unless you have a standing arrangement with someone who can give your horses a
temporary home, you’ll need to find and confirm an evacuation location. This could take one
phone call, or several dozen.
In a sudden emergency — a major wildfire shifting direction, say, or a tornado materializing —
then most farm owners would probably take in just about any horses, even if the only way to do
that would involve tying those horses to rings in the indoor arena overnight. In principle, though,
it’s better to be as prepared as possible and have as many options as possible.
You need to know where you can take your horses in case of need. But before you evacuate
them, know what paperwork and/or supplies you will need to bring; find out what facilities will be
available (stalls, pens, turnouts, pastures) and be aware of the type(s) of fencing at that location.
Not everyone’s definition of “horse fencing” is the same. Be sure that your chosen evacuation
location is suitable for your horses. Ponies can be given stall space at a draft horse farm, but
taking draft horses to a pony farm will not be successful.
Getting there
How will you evacuate your horses? What if you have more horses than trailer space? It’s best
to have “in case of emergency” arrangements with nearby neighbours and friends.
Some disasters require quick action. No amount of preparation and planning will help you
evacuate your horses if you can’t get them into the trailer.
Practice horse-catching until your horses are reliable about coming to you.
Practice trailer-loading until your horses will reliably climb in and stand quietly.
Time may dictate your actions. If a hurricane or fire is on the way, you may have days to
evacuate your animals, vehicles, and prize possessions. If your anticipated disaster involves
flooding or an expected earthquake, you may have less time. In the case of a tornado, you may
have only hours – or even minutes to prepare (in which case you should probably turn your horses
out into a field and hope for the best).
If you do evacuate, it’s best to leave as promptly as possible. Many people hesitate and leave at
the last possible moment, which can cause crowding on roads, slow travel, and accidents.
Items to take along
Most of us know what to pack for a weekend competition or trail ride; sadly, we might find it
difficult to list and assemble the items we would need for an effective evacuation.
I’ll assume (due to article space constraints) that you won’t need to pack your own hay and
feed along with your horses. If that proves to be necessary, you’ll need to plan accordingly.
Your “most important information” file box
Homeowners living in disaster-prone areas know to keep their “most important documents” file
box near the door, so that they can grab it on their way out if they have to leave in a hurry. The
important papers in that file should include information for each of your horses.
Indicate the horse’s age, gender, breed, and color. Include its current Coggins test, health
certificate and other medical information, registration, and any added forms of identification (e.g.,
brand, micro-chip, tattoo). Also include clear photographs of each horse from the front, back, and
both sides, as well as close-up photos of any identifying marks –not only its markings, but its
whorls (on head, neck, chest, and flanks). If your horse has scars, take photos of those, too.
Could your farm be an evacuation location?
If you have more stalls and paddocks than horses, you could take in some refugees. However,
this isn’t just a question of space. Before offering your farm as an evacuation area, be sure that
you have space (stalls, pens, turnouts, or pastures), suitable fencing, and sufficient supplies. Know
how many and what sort of horses you can and can’t take in. Are your facilities suitable for a
stallion, a foal, a pregnant mare? What about a blind horse, or one with COPD? Think about your
own horses and your facility design. Horses aren’t fungible.
Here are a few of the many factors you’ll want to consider:
Water:
At 10-20 gallons per day per horse, can your well provide enough water for the additional
animals? If you lose power, can you hand-pump the well? If you have a generator, how much fuel
will you need? Your water supply may determine how many extra horses you can manage.
Feed:
Storing enough feed and hay to carry extra horses over a period of days, weeks, or longer isn’t
trivial — and requires storage space. Since hay and feed don’t last forever, “emergency stores”
must be regularly used up and replaced with fresh. This is more easily accomplished by managers
of large establishments.
Meds:
With additional, unfamiliar horses on the place, you would need a larger-than-usual collection
of medications and first-aid supplies.
Risks:
Crowding, kicking, and fighting are serious risks when horses are thrown together without an
introduction. Disease transmission is another risk. Not all horse owners have their horses Coggins
tested annually, but that’s a good precaution (and practical necessity) for anyone living in a
disaster-prone area. It would be heartbreaking to have their horses rejected at an evacuation
location, and heartbreaking for you to have to turn them away.
Horse identification
What if your horses were scattered across the countryside in the days following a major
disaster?
During (and before and after) a disaster, some lucky horses are given a personal, prearranged,
temporary home at a farm or boarding stable where they, and you, are known. Other lucky horses
are given temporary shelter by local farmers or backyard horse owners with extra stalls or empty
pastures. Less fortunate horses may be wandering through local woods or fields — or on the
roads. Natural disasters often result in horses running loose for a variety of reasons including
fallen trees, broken fences, and desperate owners who turned them loose in the hope that they
might be able to outrun whatever was coming.
When you’re looking for a lost horse, it’s essential that you be able to describe that horse
accurately. Identification is all-important. Remember your file with your horse’s photos and
papers? It will help you search for and identify your horse, or help his unknown rescuers
recognize his markings and realize that it’s your horse taking up their extra stall.
Permanent ID for horses
Branding, whether hot iron or freeze-branding, is highly visible. You’ll recognize your horse
anyway, but a brand helps other people identify it. If you want to register a brand of your own,
contact your state agricultural office for information.
Some forms of freeze-branding will identify an individual horse, using a series of letters and
symbols specific to the individual. Otherwise, it’s just the “cold burn” version of hot-iron
branding, and only identifies a horse as being the property of a specific person or farm/ranch.
You can have a tiny micro-chip implanted in your horse’s neck. This Electronic ID can be read
with a (specific) radio frequency scanner. The chip does identify your horse as a specific,
individual animal. But…micro-chips are useful only if they are scanned. Relying on a chip for
I.D. isn’t a guarantee that anyone will scan it. A brand plus a microchip is ideal: The brand says
“This is my horse” and might prompt the finder to scan for a micro-chip, the micro-chip says
“This is a specific horse.”
Then there’s the old technology: Your veterinarian can create an ID certificate for your horse.
This will look much like a Coggins test: your horse’s identifying marks (front, back, and both
sides) will be added to a line drawing of a horse, along with written descriptions of those marks.
Your horse will be identified by age, breed, sex, colour, and markings.
Owners of ex-racehorses often rely on their OTTBs’ lip tattoos for permanent identification.
This can be unwise. Many lip tattoos fade over time; some become unreadable in just a few years.
Also, people unfamiliar with OTTBs may not even think to look for a lip tattoo.
Blood typing and DNA typing can be good forms of I.D. if you’re arguing about horse
ownership in a “he said, she said” situation. But during or after a disaster, when the priority is
locating a “found” horse’s owner, a brand — or brand plus micro-chip — would be preferable.
Last-minute, temporary I.D.
There are some short-term precautions that may help you locate a lost horse after a disaster.

Breakaway halters are more likely to become lost, but much safer in case they become
snagged. It’s a tradeoff.

Put your telephone number on those halters — written with indelible marker on
waterproof tags or on waterproof tape wrapped around a cheek piece.

Waterproof luggage tags make good substitute halter tags, and — if you have the time —
can also be braided into your horse’s mane.

Your horse’s blanket or sheet can be a billboard; paint or spray-paint your phone number
on both sides. It’s also possible to use bright marking paint to put your number on both
sides of your horse’s coat.
Essential information
In an emergency, time is like gold. Collect — and add to your “most important documents” file
— all of the information you’re likely to need. “Oh no, it’s coming our way!” should prompt
quick, planned action, not frantic searching!
What information is essential? Names and telephone numbers — lots of them. Some you may
want to store on your phone, but it’s wise to maintain a current, on-paper list of available
resources at several levels.
LOCAL-LEVEL RESOURCES:
Friends and nearby neighbours who have barns and pastures, and may be able to offer an
evacuation location, trailering help, or both. Would they take you in? What paperwork and what
else you would need to bring with you?
Your own veterinarian and several alternatives.
Your local police and fire departments, for information about current road and traffic
conditions.
Your not-so-nearby neighbours with horses and/or farms, even if they are ten or fifteen miles
from you, and any reasonably nearby friends with barns and pastures. Friends/neighbours who
have agreed to help you trailer your animals in an emergency.
All horse facilities — including boarding, training, and lesson barns — in your area.
Directions to your probable evacuation areas.
Directions from all main roads to your own farm. This will help you if you need assistance at
your farm; it will help others if your farm is an evacuation area.
Your local fairgrounds — an often-overlooked source of stabling.
STATE-LEVEL RESOURCES:
Your state’s Emergency Management Agency
Your State Veterinarian
Your State Department of Agriculture
Your University Ag Extension Agent
Your local Farm Bureau
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: CAST YOUR NET WIDE
Remember to use the Internet. Spend a few hours with a good search engine; it’s a good use of
your time. Search for your specific area and/or most your likely disaster (tornados, straight-line
winds, hurricanes, floods, wildfires?) along with the term “horse owner” or “horses” or “horse
farm.” Search by your area, region, state, county, township. Go local, statewide, national — the
information is out there. Do remember, though, to give preference to information that pertains
directly to your area and your most likely type of disaster.
Long-term planning: Creating a local information resource
The last minute, just before — or during — a disaster, is not the time to tell other people that
you (a) will need a safe place for your horses, effective immediately, or (b) can offer sanctuary to
X number of horses at your farm.
Could you organize a meeting of local horse owners and barn owners? Disaster planning
should be discussed well in advance of any actual need. Your local horse clubs and riding clubs
can survey — and notify — their members. Tack shops, feed stores, and boarding, training, and
lesson stables are likely to have bulletin boards where information and questionnaires can be
posted. A one-page flyer can be sent — by snail mail and/or e-mail — to all known local horseowners, stable owners, farm managers, members of riding clubs, members of Farm Bureau, etc.
Community action and information sharing
You and your equestrian community might consider working together to create a local
information clearinghouse.
Some active “horse communities” have local clubs and committees where information is
regularly collected for an annually-published booklet, web site, or both. These useful resources
typically list all local horse farms, arenas, boarding/training/lesson barns, veterinarians, farriers,
feed mills, etc.
Such a booklet, expanded slightly, could easily provide a list of specific evacuation locations,
including, perhaps, even individual horse-owners who can offer sanctuary to a horse or a few
horses in case of disaster. Ideally, such a booklet would include brief descriptions of those spaces
and of the types of horses that could be safely accommodated. That would allow horse owners to
know what they could expect at various evacuation locations, and how to contact the owners of
those facilities. This could help avoid the sort of disaster-related chaos that can ensue when every
horse-owner in the county tries to take his or her horses to the same facility.
If no such comprehensive, regularly-updated booklet or web site exists for your area, your local
riding club or Farm Bureau might be persuaded to create and maintain one. Or, if you’re willing,
perhaps it’s a task you could take on yourself.
Quick summary of advice

Know your area and its most likely disasters.

Know your neighbours, both near and not-so-near.

Maintain a regularly-updated list of resources.

Teach people (family and/or staff) what to do “if and when.”

Train horses to be easy to catch and quick to load.

Keep everything ready – halters, identification tags, papers.
 If you evacuate, take your “most important information” file!
Remember: In any disaster situation, up-to-date information and basic disaster preparation can
save you time! That’s essential when time is what you need most of all.