Do you have a plan?

[Northern]

Just musing around a bit here. I am currently watching an enormous (14,000 hectares burned already) uncontrollable bushfire inch closer and closer to where I currently live. My own horses are much further away thankfully, but I am currently responsible for three horses, two cats and a dog. They have already been evacuated and returned this week, and there is a concrete plan in place for their safety should this fire threaten here. There has been an impressive, coordinated effort to evacuate the (very horsey) area currently emergency warned against this fire, and as far as I am aware they managed to get all the horses/livestock out of the area.

Back home, I have an evacuation plan in place should the horses be threatened (a firestorm has happened before in this area, with horrific consequences because people were complacent). Now I know bushfires aren't AS common generally in UK/Europe, but there are other natural disasters happening. So I thought it would be interesting to find out what your plan is for a disaster most likely to hit your area. Are you well prepared enough to stay and defend? Or would you leave early with your animals and valuables?

Obligatory picture of the fire front threatening our small area of the world...

 

[SEL]

I got caught in the fires in Kosciuszko national park back in 2003 - scariest thing that has ever happened to me around horses. My week long riding trip turned into 3 days of riding, 1 of heading back to base at speed followed by abandoning the horses in the safest place the guides could find and being evacuated. I still have the photos somewhere. The fires made it onto the news in the UK which obviously had my family in a panic because with zero mobile signal there was no way of getting in touch to check I was OK. I don't envy you guys at the moment with the temperatures you're having.

As for plans living in rural Oxfordshire? Absolutely nothing! Right now my only concern is the fact that we have snow due in tomorrow night which may cause problems getting to the horses the following morning - so they will be left with extra rations. I think if I lived somewhere with the risk of floods or fires I would definitely have a trailer that could take both my heavyweights at once though.

 

[Northern]

I got caught in the fires in Kosciuszko national park back in 2003 - scariest thing that has ever happened to me around horses. My week long riding trip turned into 3 days of riding, 1 of heading back to base at speed followed by abandoning the horses in the safest place the guides could find and being evacuated. I still have the photos somewhere. The fires made it onto the news in the UK which obviously had my family in a panic because with zero mobile signal there was no way of getting in touch to check I was OK. I don't envy you guys at the moment with the temperatures you're having.

As for plans living in rural Oxfordshire? Absolutely nothing! Right now my only concern is the fact that we have snow due in tomorrow night which may cause problems getting to the horses the following morning - so they will be left with extra rations. I think if I lived somewhere with the risk of floods or fires I would definitely have a trailer that could take both my heavyweights at once though.

Those 2003 fires stopped 50m from our house, with us inside watching! I’ll never forget that experience, and as horrific as it was, experiencing that disaster has helped me prepare for these situations. I’m glad you got out, not everyone was so lucky in 2003.

 

[holeymoley]

We had wild fires not too far from the yard last summer. We had the warmest, driest summer for a good few years. Safe to say I didn’t sleep much that night as I envisaged it spreading crazily fast. I have my car and trailer and a few horsey contacts where I could move him for a few days if I had to. Thankfully it fizzled out and didn’t actually spread as far or as quick as I thought it would.

Couldn’t imagine living in the US or anywhere like that with their history of wildfires and hurricanes etc

 

[SEL]

Those 2003 fires stopped 50m from our house, with us inside watching! I’ll never forget that experience, and as horrific as it was, experiencing that disaster has helped me prepare for these situations. I’m glad you got out, not everyone was so lucky in 2003.

It shocked me how quickly it spread. When we started the trip there was a gentle white haze everywhere and people were talking about the fires up in the mountains and within 72 hours the sky was going black and large bits of burning wood were falling around us. We had no idea it had got to residential areas until we got updated back in civilisation. Very glad you escaped it too - eye opening for a UK lass where we rarely get fires take off like that.

Its the huge areas that fires in the US and Oz cover that would really worry me. When we have grass / field fires in the UK they tend to be localised so if we had to evacuate animals then you wouldn't have to travel to far to safety. My friend has a field a few miles from where mine are kept and I know in an emergency she would take mine and probably quite a few others - but following a few US people on forums last year when they had wildfires they were having to take the horses hours away for safety.

 

[SEL]

Actually I have a copy of the old photo on FB. Taken on a disposable camera so quality no good, but the sky really was that colour!! At this point in time we were all oblivious to how bad the fire was (no mobile phone signal) and I think it was the following day that the fire trucks came looking for us and told our guide that we needed to get out (back in the days when I was a lot younger and braver!!)

 

[only_me]

tbh if we had wildfires it would be the apocalypse has come so there'd be no hope anyway lol.

More likely to have floods (regularly small floods, horses used to it lol) and lots snow - beast from east last year made it impossible to get to main yard, luckily horses had already moved up into their sheds/summer fields so easy to do them. If horse had been in winter field would have been very stuck, but there are always big bale haylages kept in winter field for feeding so wouldn't have been too bad.
I've a small store of about 12 bales that would probably see me through a week if worst weather came to

 

[laura_nash]

tbh if we had wildfires it would be the apocalypse has come so there'd be no hope anyway lol.

Yes, that was my thought too!

Flooding happens to some extent every year and isn't really a disaster, it would have to be pretty severe to affect my house or my top field and my hay is up in a hayloft (we had the worse flooding in a generation a couple of winters back and it was still well away from us). Wind is also pretty common in winter so we are pretty "batton downed" anyway, no trees allowed near enough to fall on the house etc. We don't get proper snow and it doesn't get cold (-1 has people's pipes bursting here as no-one bothers insulating them). Can't really think of any other disaster we could do much about.

Generally speaking the weather (and wildlife) here in Ireland rarely makes any serious attempt to kill people.

 

[Rowreach]

tbh if we had wildfires it would be the apocalypse has come so there'd be no hope anyway lol.

More likely to have floods (regularly small floods, horses used to it lol) and lots snow - beast from east last year made it impossible to get to main yard, luckily horses had already moved up into their sheds/summer fields so easy to do them. If horse had been in winter field would have been very stuck, but there are always big bale haylages kept in winter field for feeding so wouldn't have been too bad.
I've a small store of about 12 bales that would probably see me through a week if worst weather came to

We had brush fires here a few years ago, courtesy of a very dry spring and certain individuals setting fires on the mountains. I took in some friends' horses, after their yard was surrounded by fire and they decided to evavuate. I wasn't far away from them, but I was on top of a big hill surrounded by damp grass fields.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I have a small plan should we have a common fire locally, as in I move mine to the top fields. Unlikely, but it did happen in 76, also one about quarter mile away last summer. Nothing like you OP!!

Otherwise, am on local lists for hosting emergency livery in case of flooding (as has happened in recent years) as mine pretty dry and 'can' make stables available if desperate.

 

[MrsMozart]

Scary times.

I've done the taking my lorry to move horses who where about to be flooded out. That was a tad wet and stressful, but they were all saved so happy days.

I will check with the YOs of the current horses as to what their plans are should the worst happen.

 

[MagicMelon]

Scary, I always wonder what people plan for horses in countries that experience things like this (fire, tornadoes, hurricanes etc.). Personally, I have no plan as I live on the top of a hill in NE Scotland so really I cant think what could possibly touch us here. We cant flood and dont have enough woodland for a fire to get near us. High winds is about all we get, but again we dont have hurricane force ones here - if one were forecasted then Id move my horses to lower sheltered ground. We do get the odd blizzard but again, there's not much risk as such to the horses, I just rug them up well and they tend to shelter in their open stables.

I used to have a reguar nightmare where a nearby hill (which looks volcano shaped) would erupt and I had to rush about trying to squeeze all my horses (I had 5 then) into my trailer! I dont think I could keep horses in a country who was prone to certain big things like tornadoes etc. A tornado hit about 1/2 a mile away one night when I was in Florida, I saw what it did to barns and stables - just completely flattened.

 

[Northern]

Actually I have a copy of the old photo on FB. Taken on a disposable camera so quality no good, but the sky really was that colour!! At this point in time we were all oblivious to how bad the fire was (no mobile phone signal) and I think it was the following day that the fire trucks came looking for us and told our guide that we needed to get out (back in the days when I was a lot younger and braver!!)View attachment 29204

Amazing photo, ignorance really is bliss sometimes! We were lucky, plenty of people weren't and I am glad I didn't have horses back then to add to the stress. Fires are a fact of life here, but every year they get bigger and stronger and there is nothing that can be done but let them burn and try and save structures in the way. This particular fire was started by dry lightning storms in dry forest, it has never been so warm and dry (I am very far South).

Equally though, I can imagine harsh snow storms and floods (funnily enough Northern Queensland have record floods at the moment... ) would present similar challenges. I like to make sure my horses float reliably enough to get out within minutes. The alternative is finding a local dusty paddock (not hard at the moment) to leave them in and hope their survival instincts kick in!

 

[Accidental Eventer]

The fires over east are scary, I think the terrain there makes fighting them so much more difficult.

Here in WA fires are a real threat for us too and our plan is to leave early. If there is a serious threat from fire then we will take the horses first before things progress. Stick the sprinklers on in the paddock and the garden and hope for the best! Plus maintain the property and ensure no leaf litter, good firebreaks etc.

In saying that we had a fire burn onto our property the first year we were there (after having lived in the bush in a wooden house my whole life and never once getting threatened) and there was no time to leave. Thankfully it was small and slow moving and with 3 helitacs taking water from the dam they got on top of it within a few hours. There was no time to leave, we kept the horses contained and kept out of the way of the firefighters.

I wouldn't know how to manage in a flood!

 

[Mule]

We just get the odd flood and storms. Nothing to prepare for as we're not in an area that gets flooded.

 

[DabDab]

Scary stuff - hope it stays away from you all.

Last year's beast from the east did have me contemplating the likelihood of more prolonged cold spells like that. And I do have half a notion to buy a small patch of land by the river (river severn so unlikely to freeze), and storing some hay down there, just in case we lose water here for too long. We bought bottled water last year and I went and drained the water tank on my parent's narrowboat into bottles.

We're pretty high up in comparison to the river, so unlikely to flood. If it did happen I guess I would take the horses, dogs and some camping equipment and head up the Clee. Cat would have to fend for himself I think