Safety Video: Is Your Horse Trailer Ready for Fire/Hurricane/Flood Evacuation Use?

by Fran Jurga | 11 July 2009 | The Jurga Report



No one wants to think about it, but it's that time of year. Forest fires, hurricanes and floods are sure to be in the news again this year, but maybe if everyone is prepared, the worst will never happen.

Brett Scott PhD, Assistant Professor of Animal Science and Extension Horse Specialist at Texas A&M University talked to a video camera recently and provided a laundry list of tips for horse owners who should be preparing their plans now for how to evacuate their animals if the need arises.

Who can forget those horrible scenes of traffic jams and closed gas stations back in the days of Hurricane Gustave? It was so hot, and many horses were stuck in trailers pulled by trucks going nowhere. And when they got somewhere...there was no power.

Sure, this is all common sense. Sure, we all already know this stuff. But look around. Imagine that today's the day. If you had to load up and hit the road with your horses because a wildfire was approaching or a nuclear power plant melted down, could you do it?

How would you do it? Walk yourself through the steps. Now ask yourself what would happen if you were away for the weekend. Could a stranger or a neighbor or a rescue agency worker come to your barn and get your horses to safety. Could they find the equipment and identification information and medications your horses would need?

Writing phone numbers on a blackboard is not enough. Make a binder. Take pictures of all the horses and identify them with name, age, medical conditions and behavior idiosyncracies. Write down all the possible information you can think of for people to contact.

Then get to work on that trailer. And maybe get to know your neighbors, just in case.

Thanks to extension.org for hosting this video.

Florida Imposes Transport Inspection, Restrictions on Texas Livestock

Anyone planning to transport horses out of the state of Texas should be prepared for health inspections and possible delays. Florida has imposed an official restriction on all hooved livestock from Texas. Here's the official announcement:

Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson today announced restrictions on the importation of animals from states affected with vesicular stomatitis following a confirmed case in Texas, the first such case reported in the United States since 2006.

Vesicular Stomatitis is a highly contagious, viral disease that affects horses, cattle, swine and occasionally sheep, goats and deer. The virus can also cause flu-like symptoms in people working with infected animals. Signs of vesicular stomatitis include blister-like lesions in the mouth, on the tongue, lips, nostrils, hooves and teats. While the virus is rarely fatal, it does result in significant weight loss and milk production loss. It is also difficult to distinguish between this virus and foot-and-mouth disease, a devastating livestock disease found outside the United States. States and other countries often impose movement restrictions on animals from vesicular stomatitis-affected areas.

The United States Department of Agriculture, National Veterinary Services Laboratories, have confirmed the finding of a positive horse, with clinical signs on a ranch in Starr County, Texas. (Scroll down the blog to read the official news from earlier this week.)

Florida requires veterinary inspection of susceptible animals coming from states affected with vesicular stomatitis.

Hoofed animals entering Florida from Texas will require prior permission for entry and must be accompanied by an official certificate of veterinary inspection. The certificate of veterinary inspection must state that the animals are free of clinical signs of vesicular stomatitis and have not been exposed nor located within 10 miles of a positive premises, within the previous 30 days. In addition, any hoofed livestock from states that are affected with vesicular stomatitis are required to have documentation to show they have been tested and found negative within 10 days of movement to Florida.

First Group of Olympic Horses Landed in Hong Kong Today

Malina Gueorguiev of the Federation Equestrian Internationale (FEI) shares this news today:

The human and animal kingdoms may be enjoying a quiet summer / winter weekend, depending on the hemisphere, but it is a key one for the horses taking part in the equestrian events of the 2008 Olympic Games. Indeed, on Friday 25 July the first horses left from Europe (Amsterdam, NED) and the North American continent (Atlanta, USA) on three flights to Hong Kong.

All 33 horses – coming from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Korea, the Netherlands, and Switzerland – accompanied by 15 attendants arrived in fantastic form to begin their acclimatisation. All the horses behaved properly on the flights and travelled very well.

The disembarkation process of the horses, their attendants and the vast amount of equipment that was flown in ran extremely smoothly. The horses underwent preliminary tests immediately upon arrival and were declared to be remarkably well. They were in the stables less than two hours after landing. So, while human passengers were still queuing to have their passports checked and collect their luggage, the horses were enjoying a good roll in the shavings.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club and FEI veterinary teams will continue to closely monitor the horses to ensure they remain healthy.

The horses will now undergo a ten-day Post-Arrival Isolation during which training is possible.

Two-hundred and nineteen horses will be flown to Hong Kong for the Olympic equestrian events over 13 days. The last ones are due to arrive on 6 August.

American Horse Council Supports Tightening of Slaughter Horse Regulations

(received via press release today and posted for your information)

WASHINGTON, DC - The American Horse Council (AHC) has told the U.S. Department of Agriculture that it supports the Department’'s proposal to amend the regulations governing the commercial transportation of equines for slaughter. The proposed changes would extend the regulatory protections provided by the Commercial Transport of Equines to Slaughter Act to horses bound for slaughter, but delivered first to an assembly point, feedlot, or stockyard.

The AHC was one of the principal organizations involved in passing the Commercial Transport of Horses to Slaughter Act. The AHC was also involved in working with USDA in drafting the rules adopted under the Act to regulate the transport of equines for slaughter in December, 2001,” said Jay Hickey, AHC President.

The rules presently require that shippers certify the fitness of these horses to travel and provide them with water, food, and rest for 6 hours prior to being loaded for transport. Horses cannot be shipped for more than 28 hours without being off-loaded for 6 hours and given the chance to rest, eat and drink. While in transport, horses must be checked at least every 6 hours to ensure that no horse has fallen or is in distress. Trucks used to transport horses to processing facilities must allow for the segregation of stallions and aggressive horses from others.

The rules prohibited the use of double-deck trailers to commercially transport horses to slaughter after December 7, 2006.

The current rules apply only to the transport of horses directly to the slaughter plant, not to any initial shipment to an assembly point, feedlot or stockyard during the shipping process,” said Hickey. “USDA felt that this was a gap in the protections of the Act and the AHC agrees.”

The proposed change would broaden the protections to include all horses “being transferred to a slaughter facility, including an assembly point, feedlot, or stockyard.” In effect, the proposed changes would move-up the point at which the regulations apply in the process of moving horses from sales, farms, and other points to a slaughter facility. This would provide horses delivered to intermediate points en route to slaughter with the same protections regarding food, water, hour limits, and the prohibition on double-decker trucks as those horses moved directly to plants.

The rules do not –and would not under the proposed changes – apply to the transport of horses for other purposes, such as breeding, racing, show or recreation.