How’d He Do That? Large Animal Rescue Training Courses Are There To Help Emergency Responders Help Horses

When a horse finds itself in a tough spot – stuck in a sinkhole, trapped in an overturned trailer, or running down the highway – it very often makes the news, especially if the horse is successfully rescued. But when a horse owner or passerby calls emergency services for help, the chances are good that in many places, those first responders have never touched a horse before, and may have no idea how to safely approach whatever pickle the horse has gotten themselves into. 

One Central Kentucky event seeks to make those calls less panic-inducing, for horses and humans alike.

Every year the Kentucky Horse Council (KHC) holds a large animal rescue training course that spans over three days at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. The course is designed to educate emergency responders, veterinary professionals, animal control officers, horse industry professionals and other interested parties on the rescue and emergency protocol for horses. 

“Dr. Rocky Mason [KHC board member] basically is the proponent behind it,” said Sarah Coleman, executive director of the KHC. “He does a majority of the fundraising for it. He located the teachers who bring their helpers and their trailer and all their equipment. He had already known of them so he knew with all of the horses and other large animals that we have here in Kentucky, there was this really strong need for that education and training.”

The large animal rescue training course is taught by Tori and Justin Mcleod, owners of 4Hooves Large Animal Services (4HLAS) in Biscoe, N.C. The 4HLAS team offers a wide variety of services outside of large animal rescue training courses, including large animal emergency response, equine transport, emergency and specialized equine transport, equestrian event emergency standby, end of life services, large animal rescue equipment sales, and assistance with equine cruelty investigations. Some of these services are only offered to certain locations based on distance from 4HLAS, but the Mcleods are eager to help in any way they possibly can, no matter what the location is. 

“It depends on the nature of the emergency, our response time, and all of the limiting factors,” Tori Mcleoud explained. “More often than not, we have resources that we have trained over the years that we'll call who are closer to that area to see if they can respond to help. If that is not an option we can also help them on the phone through facetime or texting with pictures back and forth. We've done several rescues just helping out over the phone.”

The large animal rescue training course at the Kentucky Horse Park consists of three days of classroom instruction as well as hands on training for a wide variety of scenarios and topics. These include animal behavior, handling and restraint, containment, motor vehicle accidents and overturned trailers, entrapments, barn fires and wildfires, unstable ground incidents, natural disaster preparation and response, hazardous materials decontamination, and more. The training course is open for auditing to anyone who is interested in learning more about large animal rescue techniques, but only around 40 spots are available for hands-on training participation.

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A big part of what these attendees take away from the training course can go far beyond the in-class and hands-on instruction provided by the Mcleods as well.  

“We'll find that a lot of our student base in the classes are usually from the local area so it also becomes a networking opportunity for everybody,” Mcleod said. “The fire department members that may not have known an equine vet in their response area now know one because of the class. Now there's that face-to-face relationship. Not only do they know each other now face to face, but they also have seen each other in a training environment while figuring out rescue scenarios so if there was a real emergency, there's more of a grasp on how somebody would behave during that rescue operation. It's a lot easier for them to work together as a cohesive team instead of just being complete strangers meeting for the first time at an overturned trailer with 10 horses in it.”

It is also important to note that these courses are not isolated to the state of Kentucky or North Carolina. 

This training in Rocky Mount, Va., helped first responders learn how to safely use heavy equipment to lift a horse if necessary. (They are practicing on a mannequin).

“We'll go anywhere someone wants to pay us to go. We've had invitations out to Colorado to do classes there,” Mcleod said. “There are other teams, sort of our colleagues, that do training courses so we kind of refer them to areas where it wouldn't be financially reasonable for us to go. We usually go on the East Coast. We've done classes annually in Kentucky and numerous classes throughout North Carolina and Virginia. We've done a couple of classes up north, but predominantly it's North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia so far. Wherever the need is we'll go.” 

With the very high quantity of horses and large animal livestock in not only Kentucky, but the entire Southeast, training like what the Mcleods offer can make a huge difference in the face of natural disasters like the tornadoes that ripped through the Southeastern portion of the United States in December. The chief of the Marshall County, Kentucky rescue team, Charles Pratt, and the rest of his team are some of the many people who have been able to put the large animal rescue training to use. 

“We had a couple horses that were on the ground tangled up in some barbed wire,” Pratt explained about the aftermath of the tornado. “We had to go up there and get them calm and protect their faces the way they taught us in the animal rescue class. Because of the training, we were able to get some grants and buy the equipment that we needed. It would've been very hard for us to do what we were doing without having the proper equipment and knowing how to use it.”

Outside of natural disasters, there are endless possibilities and situations where horses and other large animals get into dangerous situations and need to be rescued. Most importantly the people that rescue them need to be able to do so in a way that doesn't compromise the animal's safety or their own. This can seldom be accomplished without knowledge and proper training, which is not offered to most general emergency responders. 

“My biggest thing is for any emergency service or rescue squads to try to seek that training because when you least expect it you're going to have to do it,” Pratt concluded.

Learn more about 4Hooves Large Animal Services here

Learn more about attending the KHC large animal emergency rescue training course here.

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Kentucky Equine Industry Joins Forces To Assist Horse Owners Affected By Deadly Tornadoes

Multiple equine organizations in the Commonwealth have joined forces to assist horse owners who have been affected by last week's tornado outbreak. Equine and ag-specific donations will be accepted at the Kentucky Horse Park Dec. 18-20, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Signage will point donors to the exact location behind the Alltech Arena.

Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) employees and the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment extension agents have been working diligently to create county-specific lists of items that are needed immediately. Though cleanup efforts will be ongoing, the most-needed equine items requested include buckets, winter blankets, halters, lead ropes, wheelbarrows, plastic totes, grooming supplies, water hoses, hay bags, wheelbarrows, muck tubs, pitchforks, shovels and first-aid supplies. A complete list of needs can be found here.

“We are honored to be a part of this relief effort,” said Nicole Rivera, Interim Deputy Executive Director. “Our location right off I-75 will hopefully make drop off of materials and items easy. As a park designed to celebrate the human-horse bond, we are thankful to be able to assist horse owners – and their horses – in their time of need.”

“The KDA has created an incredible system to identify needs by county,” said Sarah Coleman, Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Council. “The Horse Council is thankful for the opportunity to partner with our brothers and sisters in ag to coordinate deliveries of supplies from Central Kentucky to those hardest hit by the storms.”

Delivery of all donated goods will be provided by Brook Ledge Horse Transportation.

“The ability to give back to the horse industry that is so good to us is very important to the entire staff of Brook Ledge Inc.,” said Ashley VanMeter of Brook Ledge Inc. “We are humbled by the outpouring of support for the equine community and look forward to being able to assist them in any way we can.”

Donations will be accepted in the North Exhibit Hall of the Alltech Arena: Kentucky Horse Park 4089 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, KY 40511. Follow signs for Kentucky Horse Council. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Donations will begin being delivered to specific counties on Tuesday.

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KHC Partners With University Of Kentucky To Launch 2022 Statewide Equine Survey

The Kentucky Horse Council (KHC) has partnered with the University of Kentucky to launch a state-wide survey, which will allow the organization to better serve and protect horses and the horse industry in the Commonwealth.

Just like the agritech, automotive and manufacturing industries are integral to Kentucky's economy, so are equines. The core of this unique economic cluster is its private and commercial horse farms and equine operations, from which hundreds of equine-related businesses stem. These businesses encompass everything from transportation, farm-related and professional services and associations to equine health services, tourism and related businesses. These ancillary businesses create an unmatched competitive advantage for Kentucky's equine industry.

A comprehensive study of the Commonwealth's equine industry was completed in 2012; it was the first survey of its kind to be done since 1977. The 2022 study will once again be a collaborative effort between the Kentucky Horse Council, the University of Kentucky and the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). This information will be beneficial for local and state policymakers, nonprofit organizations and local government officials, among others. The survey, which will provide information critical to Kentucky's equine economy on a county-by-county basis, will:

  • Provide data for disease surveillance
  • Keep policy makers informed and engaged proactively
  • Inform workforce development
  • Identify emerging markets on which businesses can capitalize

“As the KHC is a non-breed, non-discipline specific organization focused on the protection and development of the Kentucky equine community, the information gleaned from this survey will be invaluable,” said Sarah Coleman, KHC executive director. “We're excited to learn more about the horses residing in the Commonwealth and how we can better assist them and their owners.”

Data obtained from this study are important for the sustained strength and continued growth of Kentucky's equine industry,” says Dr. Jill Stowe, a professor at the University of Kentucky and an equine industry economist. “Decision makers such as entrepreneurs and business owners, equine health providers, and policy makers can utilize this data to make sound, well-informed decisions on important issues facing the industry.”

Once complete, results will be available in county-level fact sheets as well as in a statewide report. All materials will be downloadable from the KHC website, free of charge.

This survey has received financial support from the Kentucky Agriculture Development Fund, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and the Environment; UK Gluck Equine Research Center; the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association; the Kentucky Horse Council and the Kentucky Farm Bureau. It is supported by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Office of the Kentucky State Veterinarian and Representative Matt Koch. Interested in supporting this effort? Email Danielle Jostes, Equine Philanthropy Director, at danielle.jostes@uky.edu or call 859-218-1176.

Click here to participate in the 2022 Kentucky Equine Survey. Questions can be directed to equine@uky.edu. Information about the 2012 Kentucky Equine Survey can be found at https://equine.ca.uky.edu/kyequinesurvey.

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Sarah Coleman Appointed as Kentucky Horse Council’s Executive Director

The Kentucky Horse Council has appointed Sarah Coleman as its new Executive Director; Coleman will begin her role Sept. 29.

An avid equestrian, Coleman grew up in northeastern Ohio and graduated from the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Coleman moved to the Bluegrass in 2004 to work with multiple equine and agriculture-related publications based in the area. She shifted to equine-oriented roles at Lexington Catholic High School and Georgetown College before transitioning to her most recent role as Community and Public Relations Director for New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program.

“I am excited to step into this role with the Kentucky Horse Council,” Coleman said. “Katy [Ross] did an incredible job; I look forward to capitalizing on the momentum she has built to grow the membership, develop relationships and resources, and awareness of the organization and its mission and programs within Kentucky. I have invested my life into the education of equine enthusiasts and equine welfare, and I am looking forward to seeing what can be accomplished in this new role.”

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