HorseKeeping Tips

• Always keep an emergency packet containing:
  • Current Coggins certificate
  • Current Brand inspection certificate (if required in your area)
  • Photos and proof of ownership so your horse can be returned right away.
  • Your veterinarian's information
  • Evacuation Plan details (see below)
• Make an Evacuation Plan- You must have a place ready to keep your horse on a moment's notice. This can be a friend's property, a designated evacuation site such as fairgrounds, or a horse hotel. Contact your evacuation site once a year to make sure your contact information is current. Choose a facility far enough away that your horse will be safe from danger. Have a map to your evacuation spot.
• Know how you will load, transport, and unload your horse- and how much help you need to accomplish those steps.
• Mark your horse's halter with his name, your name, and phone numbers (see below for more advice on phone numbers)
• Keep handy travel supplies of special feed or meds your horse needs. Take a basic First Aid kit, too.

• Keep a permanent marker and a can of bright spray paint at the barn to write directly on your horse. Yes, even on his slicked-out show coat! Priorities, people… Paint on your phone number, and an out-of-area phone number to reach someone who knows you. It's important to choose someone out of the area so that rescue authorities can reach them even if local phones are down. They will contact that person and so can you!
• Microchip your horse. In disasters microchip readers aren't always available, though, so still paint or marker your number and your out-of-area contact number on the horse.
• When at a shelter or evacuation ground, bring your own stall card containing any critical information about your horse. This is the place to note if he is allergic to alfalfa, for instance.

Have some HorseKeeping tips to share?