Managing horses in emergencies

The safety of your animals is your responsibility. It is important to act early and be prepared to increase the survival chances of your horse during an emergency.

You need to:

  • Ensure PIC details are up-to-date. This fundamental tracing element underpins all others and is a requirement for all horse properties in NSW
  • Ensure your horse has the appropriate form of identification where required.  Some form of identification is mandatory for most horse industry groups with member registration, e.g. microchipping for thoroughbreds and those registered with Equestrian Australia, freeze branding for standardbreds. However, there is no requirement for individual identification of horses not affiliated with any particular group or society. (This makes the requirement for a PIC to record where these horses are located particularly relevant.)
  • Ensure insurance records are up-to-date
  • Ensure animals vaccinations are up-to-date
  • Ensure you have an emergency action plan for all animals. If you have animals agisted on your property, or your animals are agisted elsewhere, develop and agree on a plan with animal owners or landowners
  • Determine how you will maintain containment (eg. fencing) and the provision of food, water and shelter for your animals after a natural disaster.

Get in touch with Local Land Services for more information.