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meant regular veterinary care was hard to access.
So in early August, when Georgie was accidentally
injured at his temporary home, Coombe was left
struggling to find care.
“There is no large animal vet in Hinton, the
closest one is in Edson. I did manage to get him on
the trailer and headed out to Edson and had him
treated there, but at the end of the day I had several
thousand dollars in vet bills,” she says. “And I just
couldn’t manage. There wasn’t even anywhere in
Edson that I could board him and pay someone to
help manage the injury.”
Alberta Equestrian Federation was able to support
Coombe through the summer, and help cover some
of those costs through the Equine Emergency
Disaster Fund.
“The funding that I received was helpful,” she says.
AS THE ONE-YEAR anniversary of the fires
approaches, Scott Jackson is looking forward to once
again riding on the trails around Pyramid Bench.
Much of that area survived the fires, and Jackson is
ready to get back in the saddle.
“There’s a bit of trail damage up there, but
fortunately the whole area up there where the corrals
are and most of the trails are has been untouched by
the fire,” he says.
“So hopefully we’ll get back and have a good
season again this year.”
EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS
As a longtime Jasper resident, Scott Jackson says the
Jasper wildfires did not come as a complete surprise.
Like many Jasperites, he had a plan to safely evacuate —
he just hoped to never have to use it.
“Within the last 15 or 20 years with the pine beetle kill, we
knew this was coming, so there were some kinds of plans
in place,” he says. “But you know how that goes. You have
a plan in place, but you hope you’ll never have to put that
plan into action.”
Having an evacuation plan — including contact information
for friends who could help, backup transportation options
and veterinary records — can be useful in many different
emergency scenarios. Leanne Niblock, executive director of
the Alberta SPCA, offers several tips for horse owners to be
prepared for any emergency.
STAY INFORMED
The Alberta Emergency Alert app notifies users about
emergency situations in their area. Niblock recommends
all horse owners register their Premises Identification (PID)
number with the province. “That allows the province to alert
people that there is an emergency coming and that it also
helps you identify your livestock after,” says Niblock.
MAKE A PLAN
While it’s not possible to predict all the emergency situations
and outcomes that could arise, preparing an evacuation plan
and sharing it with trusted contacts can help.
“Do your neighbours know where your halters are to help
with an evacuation if you’re not there? Do you have phone
numbers for your neighbours that you can call and make a
plan for how you’re going to evacuate together?” she says.
“If you had to move your horse in under five minutes, what
would you need to have to be ready to do that?”
IDENTIFY YOUR ANIMALS
“With horses, we don’t necessarily have ear tags or that kind of
thing to help us identify them, so I would encourage folks to
also figure out a way that in the event you end up separated
from them, someone can phone that number and tell you, ‘I
found your horse’” she says, adding that temporary options like
livestock markers or sharpies on hooves can be useful.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Ultimately, practicing loading into different types of trailers,
with different people around, can help to reduce the stress
in an emergency situation. “Start practicing with your
neighbours or your fellow riders, to have other folks be
able to load your horses into a trailer, in the event of an
emergency if you’re not there or you can’t get home in time
to load your horses,” she says.
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