Nature can be awesome, and deadly. As horse owners we love to be outside pretty much all of the time. A solitary ride through huge flakes of falling snow. A spring canter among flowers and green grass. Summer competitions. Crunching leaves in the fall forest. But Nature also means we face drought, floods, storms, blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires, such as those that recently decimated Southern California … and the disastrous event is just a precursor to dealing with the aftermath. So why are we so bad at preparing for these disasters? And I say this to myself as much as to anyone else.

In past editorials we’ve discussed preparing for disasters large and small, and how we’ll vow to do better keeping the first aid kits for the horse and barn stocked, having that extra halter and lead just in case, having extra gas for the truck, and developing a plan in case of flood, fire, or something as common as the city water being out for a few days or the pipes freezing.

Yet, sitting at your home right now, can you say there’s nothing else you need to do to be ready if an emergency happened? I can’t.

So let’s prepare together. Get your pencil or open a new screen on your computer and let’s get to work