Horse owners often worry about safety of their animals during hunting seasons, especially if the horse’s color might be mistaken for a deer or other large game animal. Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to help distinguish your horse as a domesticated animal, rather than a potential target.

In Pasture

Fenced pastures are generally off limits to hunters without landowner permission, but it still helps to put signs along the fence stating it’s private property. Check the hunting laws in your state–some state regulations require signage on the property to show no hunting is allowed. Painting every few posts fluorescent orange can also help to alert hunters.

If you feel your horses might still be at risk, take steps to protect them. If they are turned out only part time, avoid putting them out during times of poor visibility, such as dawn or dusk, or during foggy weather. If you have options, keep them in pens or pastures close to your house and barnyard during hunting seasons, rather than in an outlying field.

To make sure horses are easily identifiable as domestic animals, bright colored cloth or ribbon can be braided into manes and tails. If your horse wears a halter, make sure it’s a bright color. Hunter-safe horse clothing is also available. Protectavest, a Windham, Maine-based company that touts “If it can be shot at, we’ll cover it in blaze orange,” makes bright orange pasture “vests” for horses. The vests are basically the front half of a horse blanket. They also offer orange tail bags made of the same material. An orange horse collar that goes around the neck and fits under the throatlatch is safe for a horse at pasture, as the hook-and-loop closure tears loose if the collar becomes caught on something