Fears that don't relate to not being good enough for my horse.

Earlier today, I posted the link to this story about two horses being lifted by a tornado and deposited into a pool on the blog Facebook fanpage. It is kind of "oh, haha" funny in retrospect, but I can't even imagine the sick feeling of seeing my horses gone from my pasture following destruction like that, or having to leave them somewhere when I was forced into an emergency evacuation.

I am really fortunate where I live - we are on the East Coast of Canada:



As a general rule, nature is not our enemy. We don't live near any bodies of water, so no flooding. Not living on any major fault lines - the most recent earthquake that we could feel was perhaps a million years ago. My dad remembers one small tornado when he was a kid that knocked down the neighbour's shed and (according to my dad) sucked all the water out of the duck pond and then put it down in the same place. We're not right on the coast so most hurricanes are blown out by the time they get to us... we get some wicked winter storms but as a general rule, are very lucky when it comes to natural disasters.

A lot of what has been going on in the last little while - the tornadoes, massive earthquakes... have made me consider - what is my "emergency plan"? I take a lot for granted because we have been so lucky in the past... but I shouldn't always rest on my luck like that!

Up until last summer, we didn't have a trailer, either. For where we are located, if there were ever an emergency evacuation, the closest trailer I can think of is over 30 minutes away and they would be likely to have to evacuate, too. I have long felt uncomfortable with not having a trailer, and feel a lot better now - if I have to make emergency trips to the vet, if we have to evacuate, if we need to help somebody do the above... With that said, though - all told, we have nearly 200 head of livestock here on the farm and 1 piddly 2-horse trailer won't move everything in nearly a short enough time if we ever had to evacuate!

People say that animals are unpredictable, and I agree. However, one thing that I like about animals, as a general rule, is that they can often be reasoned with. There's a motivation - food, water, dominance, reproduction, relief of pain or threat - behind the majority of their behaviour and you can make life easier for yourself if you can provide it or at least get out of its path. Weather and nature don't have those motivations - you can't reason with it, if a tornado is coming for your town, you get out of Dodge, no questions asked, because you're not going to provide a tsunami with the food that it requires to mold the behaviour into something you desire.

My heart truly goes out to all of those who are living with the aftermath of natural disasters right now - or living in the common path of them. I think I speak for all of my readers who are more fortunate in saying that we are hoping for the best for all of you, that you stay safe and secure with no losses.