Approximately 80 percent of the horses found after Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992, did not have proper identification. Whatever the emergency—fire, tornado, hurricane or earthquake—here are a few safety tips to follow:
• Have your horse’s name, your name, telephone number and address on a luggage tag attached to a leather halter; have a second luggage tag ready, and braid it into your horse’s tail when a natural disaster is on the way; write any special instructions or medications on an index card, place it in a sealed baggie and tape it around your horse’s halter; purchase fetlock ID bands for both front feet; shave your phone number into your horse’s hair or write it on with a product that will not wash off in water.
• Make sure your horse is up-to-date on his vaccinations and Coggins test; keep this information and pictures of your horse from the front, back and sides (with a family member in the photo) along with any other information regarding permanent identification (such as scars, tattoos or microchip) in a plastic sealed baggie to take with you in case of an evacuation; also make sure your horse will load into a trailer quickly and easily.
• Have an evacuation plan in place for whatever type of emergency you may encounter; have two weeks of feed safely stored; if it’s safest to leave your horse, have the best area identified and leave plenty of water.