I’m going to start with a reminder to come visit with me on Thursday evening at 6:30pm. We have a limited number of Meet Tony opportunities, so don’t miss your chance. There will also be some talk on why horses need vaccines so often. I say it’s because they are a lesser evolved critter, but the humans say that’s not true. Oh and there will be good food. All in all a good time.
Moving on to Hurricane Hermine. I realize I have discussed hurricanes before but I felt you humans would be well primed for a refresher course given recent events. Let’s start with the basics: food, water, shelter. Did you have all of these after Hermine? Where there close calls? Walk in the feed room today and take stock of what you have. Don’t forget to check on medications. We were lucky this time; the phones never went down so our Docs were reachable, but it doesn’t always work that way. If your supplies levels are good, then you probably would have done OK if you are in the greater Gainesville area. Cedar Key and similar areas weren’t as fortunate. Determine if you are prepared for that level of destruction.
Did you have enough water for the horses? Being a cat, I was fine on water but a 5 gallon bucket will pretty much last me forever. Horses do love their water. We recommend 15 gallons per day per horse multiplied by how long you think power will be out. Planning for a week without power is the minimum we recommend. Of course, our amazing power companies normally do much better than that, but the bigger a storm, the longer it takes. In 2004 many people were out for over two weeks! Have a way to get water if power stays out. A generator to run the pump or tanks to haul water make the world a much happier place.
How did you fences do? Which brings up are your horses microchipped? We were pretty lucky at the Clinic, and the human houses to have intact fences for the most part. It’s easy to see how a tree can hit a fence line and free a horse though. And being horses they will run the least safe direction. Picking a pasture that, at the very least, directs them away from power lines or other dangers is a good start. Microchipping them so they can be identified when found is an even better step.
Take this opportunity to evaluate your disaster plan. Were the cats (ok and the horses) happy? I was about to strike over the no air conditioning thing. Do you feel you were ready for worse? Look at Hermine as Mother Nature’s little pop quiz. She just wants us to know what she can do. Kind of like us cats. Shameless plug here at the end: The humans have continued the microchip special for two more weeks. It’s ridiculously easy. The $43 price includes LIFETIME registration. Can’t beat that deal. Also since the weather was not completely disgusting today, horse show season must be upon us. We are offering 10% off Back-To-School, Back-To-Horse show lameness evaluations.
