Emergency Survival Guide

Natural disasters and emergencies happen, whether we are prepared for them or not. I have watched disasters like Katrina on television. I even drove through Happy, Texas just two hours after a rather large part of the town was leveled by a tornado in 2002. Then in 2006 grass fires destroyed more than 600,000 acres of ranch land here in the panhandle. People I knew, who I saw every week or every month, lost everything. I heard many stories, horrible things, that had happened but one that really stuck with me was a customer of ours. They didn't have time or trailer space to get her rodeo horses out. The best they could do was turn them into the arena, dirt - no grass to burn around them. And it saved their lives. The fire roared over them so fast that they were not even severly burned. But it singed off all their hair. They had to put sheets on the horses so that the blowing ash, dirt, and debris would not literally sand through their hide. I remember thinking then that it could have happened anywhere. That could have been my home, laid flat by mother nature. My horses, standing defenseless against even the ceaseless West Texas wind.

Absolutely Nothing in our power can prevent these things from happening. The only thing we can change is what we do when something does occur. We need to think about the things we can do to minimize the damage and the trauma for ourselves and our families. And yes, even our animals. And we need to think of all these things ahead of time. When I found this guide, by The Horse.com, I knew we needed to share it with other horse owners. Please take a look at it, spend some time over the next few days, and go through it. It may seem like a lot (15 pages) but if something did happen to you and yours, you would be glad that you put forth the effort.

http://www.thehorse.com/pdf/emergency/emergency.pdf