Wildlife Threats and Equine Welfare: What Owners Need to Know

There are 70,000 wildfires each year in the U.S., and horse properties in rural areas with dry vegetation particularly at risk.

By Debbie Elliot

When Sharon Gray of Pasadena, Calif., saw flames in the canyon above her property at 6:20 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2025, amid blustering 80 m.p.h. winds, she knew she had to evacuate her entire barn — and quickly. The owner of Eaton Dam Stables had literally 20 minutes from when she first became aware of what would become one of Los Angeles’ most destructive wildfires in history to coordinate getting all 39 horses to safety.

“There was the fire above us, and the wind blowing directly in our faces. We knew that we had to leave,” Gray said. “I just turned around and started barking orders. I told everyone to get the horses out of the barn, because it was made of plywood, and into the corals.”

Most of the horses were wearing blankets and fly masks to protect them from debris flying in the hurricane-level winds, but they immediately came off as they can easily catch fire.

“Luckily, we are situated within a flood control dam and the county had recently stripped all the vegetation around us, so there was not a lot near the barn to burn,” Gray explained. “I knew we had a safe spot down at the bottom because there’s a big flat staging area, so we gathered everyone there.”

She said that a major issue was flammable palm tree fronds, which turned into “flying, burning missiles” that set anything alight in their path.

The next challenge was to figure out where they were going. Gray stressed that you should always know where your evacuation zones are, but with both the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire spreading so fast, she wasn’t sure at first what the best option was, as it “felt like the world was on fire.”

She quickly found out that the Los Angeles Equestrian Center (LAEC) was accepting equine evacuees, and they took the first load of horses there. When they unloaded, she noticed a burning smell in the trailers and realized that embers had sparked the shavings.

“When you are hauling horses in a fire, you shouldn’t have shavings in the trailer, but we did not have time to clear them out,” she said.

Jennie Nevin, executive director of business development and communications at LAEC, said staff at the equestrian center were on high alert in the days leading up to the fires because of the intense winds. In the first 12 to 24 hours of the fires, they had up to 300 animals arriving there, with sheep, donkeys, pigs, and goats evacuating along with horses. Local volunteers set up a command center, and Animal Services arrived on site once LAEC was designated as an official evacuation center by the office of Emergency Services and the L.A. Fire Department.

“This was definitely the largest evacuation we’ve had due to the unprecedented scale of the fires, the impacted areas, and the number of properties under threat,” Nevin said. “We became a refuge, a safe place, and a calm in the storm.”

Horses and large animals were housed in the show stalls, and evacuees and volunteers caring for the animals were able to use the Equidome arena, show arenas, sun pens and turnouts for exercise.

Meanwhile, at Eaton Dam Stables, “a cavalry of volunteers showed up at the barn with trailers,” Gray said.

Some were boarders, others were people who had been alerted via Facebook, all were willing to risk their own safety to help.

“They were waiting for the firefighters to escort them in because everything was burning,” Gray recalled. “It was insane how fast it spread. It was such a wind-driven fire, and the firefighters just couldn’t keep ahead of it.”

Some members of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department started turning horses loose, and they were captured in iconic local news footage cantering down a road surrounded by flames. Releasing horses — especially in an urban area — is a last resort, but if you must do it then you should always close stall doors afterwards, otherwise “they’ll go back to their safe spot, which is their stall.

"That is how horses die,” Gray warned.

Sonja Larsen-Schmutz, who boards her Thoroughbred and Mustang at Eaton Dam Stables, couldn’t tow a trailer with her Honda Fit, so she focused on setting up stalls at LAEC.

“Getting horses settled, giving them water, shavings, hay, and seeing who needed calming paste because they were all just completely freaked out,” she said.

Larsen-Schmutz recommends giving each person at the barn a specific role in advance, so that everyone knows how best to help when there is an emergency. For example, she took photos of the horses from their barn at LAEC with their stall numbers and posted them on their Facebook page so people could see their horse was safe.

“Other people were getting the horses out of the fire, and I didn’t need to be at the barn getting in the way. There’s only so much people can do during the actual evacuation,” she said.

Gray and her team managed to get all the horses safely to LAEC, aside from two minis who were taken by a good Samaritan in his trailer to a nearby neighborhood. But then Gray had a horrific revelation.

“We were missing Claire,” she said, referring to her client’s beloved Gypsy Vanner mare. “That was terrifying.”

Following a night of frantically trying to find her, a client of Gray’s who worked for Animal Control and could access the closed-off fire areas brought great news. Claire had been found wandering at the barn, wondering where all her friends had gone.

“She had some burns around her mouth, singeing to her mane, feathers, and under her belly so we had the vet check her out, but aside from that, she was fine,” Gray said.

Gray, who had experienced a prior wildfire 30 years earlier, said she was calm in the moment and did what needed to be done, but “fell apart later.” When she went back to the property the next day to inspect the devastation, she saw that both the barn and the trailer that she lived in were gone.

“That’s when the tears came,” she said, as she realized they were all staying at LAEC for a while and began to anticipate the hard road ahead. “The emotional side of dealing with it is not fun. I just had to stay strong and let everyone know it was going to be OK.”

Gray and the Eaton Dam Stables boarders were blown away by the community support.

“I cannot believe what the horse world does for the horse world,” Gray said.

Nevin agreed, saying: “In times of crisis, we’ve found that people in L.A. really come together as a community ... we had as many as 100 volunteers at a time pouring in to help or bringing supplies.”

After four months at LAEC, the horses were finally able to return to Eaton Dam Stables in mid-May.

“Although there is still a lot of work to be done, we are happy to be home!” Gray said. The burned barn has been removed, and she has plans to build turnout pens where it once stood and to enlarge the arena. With the help of GoFundMe donors and Fleet of Angels, she was also able to purchase a mare motel.

Both Gray and LAEC worked closely with national non-profit agency Fleet of Angels, which provided food and supplies for evacuated horses.

“Covering the cost of caring for horses in a crisis can be a challenge, so we try to keep the affected horses safe and fed until their owners find other solutions,” said Fleet of Angels founder and executive director, Elaine Nash.

Following a natural disaster like a wildfire or hurricane, Nash and her team raise funds, gather local resources, and rally volunteers to administer their disaster response efforts on the ground.

“No one has equine evacuation centers full of supplies ready to go,” she explained. And with the LA fires, “the need was on such a huge scale.”

“We are pretty good at being first in the door with the feed and supplies that are needed,” she said.

Fleet of Angels quickly started stocking the LAEC and Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. (another major evacuation location) with essentials such as hay, wheelbarrows, buckets, hoses, rakes, etc.

“These are things you don’t think about in a crisis when you’re trying to evacuate your horse,” Nash said.

With a total of 408 horses evacuated to LAEC and over 200 at Pierce College, the demand for essentials was enormous.

“We were able to purchase everything locally, which we always try to do, as we like to keep the money circulating in the community,” said Nash, adding that local feedstores often offer a discount for non-profits. “Endeavors like this are extremely expensive. We keep our internal operations costs very low, and we try to get everything we can donated.”

Fleet of Angels also provided nebulizers donated by Flexineb for horses suffering from smoke and ash inhalation, and distributed airway supplement products donated by SmartPak.

“We try to be the Grand Central Station for anyone who wants to help with products or donate funds but don’t know where to send them,” Nash said, and on the flip side, they are the organization that equestrians in need turn to for help.

People can also apply as an individual or as a rescue for grants to help fund their recovery, such as receiving assistance with barn supplies, fence repair materials, and vet care.

“Our policy is that we exist to help horses in crisis,” Nash said.

Evacuating Horses in Wildfires: Lessons from Recent Disasters

On Jan. 7, while Gray was watching the Eaton Fire rapidly approach her barn, Mel Sobolewski mobilized her animal emergency response team to respond to the Palisades Fire by ensuring trailers and trucks were loaded with essential gear, and all electronics fully charged.

“We coordinated with stable owners on critical preparedness steps: relocating horses from pastures and barns to easily accessible areas for quick loading, removing hay from trailers to prevent ignition from flying embers, securing important documents like veterinary records, and identifying evacuation destinations,” she said. “At one point, there were five fires at once and it felt like the whole city was going up in flames.”

Sobolewski — who has certifications in fire rescue, first aid, and FEMA training — explained that many first responders are not trained to handle large animals, and her grassroots group often arrives on the scene even before the firefighters.

“You are going into a war zone. It is essential to know fire patterns and fire safety, but also traits like how a donkey kicks and where a horse’s blind spots are,” said Sobolewski, who adopted her horse, Hickory, after the Woosley Fire in 2018.

“When a barn is on fire, you typically have only three to seven minutes to get your animals out before it’s too late, which is why preparation is absolutely critical,” Sobolewski said, adding that horses in pastures or corrals have a higher chance of survival than those in stalls.

She also stressed the importance of sufficient transportation, because with fast-moving fires, there often isn’t time to make return trips to pick up extra horses.

During the L.A. fires, Sobolewski used her Instagram account as a beacon of information for those in peril.

“I shared my phone number and maintained constant availability, posting real-time updates about evacuations, rescues, and resource availability and needs,” she said.

The community response was outstanding, her team could quickly match trailers with animals needing evacuation and send volunteers to impacted areas.

“I witnessed civilians guiding strangers down mountain paths with fire raging on both sides,” she marveled. “Community members loading their personal vehicles with people they’d never met, driving them away from advancing flames without hesitation. People helping walk horses out of harm’s way or even riding them down a mountain ... These were everyday people making split-second decisions to help others that made the difference between life and death for both people and animals, they were ordinary individuals performing extraordinary acts when it matters most.”

Sobolewski’s team is also trained in CPR and basic human life support, as they encounter people in need while rescuing animals. During the Palisades Fire, they had to flush one child’s eye out and performed triage on an owner who was hit with flying debris.

Former hunter/jumper rider Ami Cullen got first-hand experience of a large-scale equine evacuation in October 2020 when a massive wildfire threatened the 8,500-acre C Lazy U Ranch in Granby, Colo., where she is the Director of Equestrian Operations.

Having grown up in the Philadelphia area, “I had zero experience with wildfires,” said Cullen. She first noticed an issue with smoke when some of the 220 horses at the ranch had watery eyes, and were coughing and sneezing, so they moved the most vulnerable animals to their vet’s property.

“I learned very quickly that one of the rules of fire country is when you get a pre-evacuation order — you go, no matter what,” said Cullen, who has since published the book Running Free, based on her experiences.

Once the official order came through, they moved the entire herd to a neighboring ranch 10 miles away, but tornado-level winds soon put that property in peril.

“The winds were so strong they were practically knocking me over ... you could see flames coming over the ridge. It was pure chaos and felt like a Hollywood movie,” she recalled. “The fire was so strong that it formed a pyro cumulus cloud, and essentially created its own weather system.”

As all their neighbors now also needed to evacuate, Cullen and her team of wranglers went on social media and posted a public cry for help.

“People came from all over Colorado with trucks and trailers to move the horses,” she said. “I realized you can be as prepared as you want, but in those moments, you have to rely on other people to help. You need extra hands, you need extra trailers. We had every type of trailer brought, from a luxury polo rig from Aspen all the way to cattle trailers."

The ranch was home to Belgian drafts and Clydesdales that couldn’t fit in regular trailers, but luckily someone came with a semi-truck and transported them.

“Another thing that I didn’t even think about until that moment was that we didn’t have enough halters for all the horses, as we never halter all 220 of them at the same time,” Cullen revealed.

Fortunately for the second evacuation, they were able to traverse a giant mountain pass and take all the horses to a facility in Evergreen, Colo., that had a pasture big enough for the whole herd.

On the way, they encountered a new type of extreme weather.

“When some of the trailers crested the pass to get there, they drove into a full winter ice storm!” she marveled. “Some of the trailers were jack-knifing on black ice.”

Cullen’s staff did their best to put horses on trailers with their friend groups, as they understood the herd dynamics and personal attachments.

“Once they were all safe in the same pasture, the stress level was non-existent,” she said.

The herd stayed there for two weeks, then another group of volunteers was utilized to take them home once the fire was extinguished.

In hindsight, Cullen advises having a printed plan displayed at the barn that includes contacts for evacuation options and social media resources.

“You need a plan A, but also a plan B and C,” she added, as fires are notoriously unpredictable.

She also warned that propane tanks should always be turned off in case of a wildfire, then inspected by a professional before turning back on.

While wildfires are certainly terrifying and extremely dangerous, they don’t have to be deadly.

“Timing is everything in evacuations," Sobolewski said. "Our preparation in those critical early hours made all the difference when the Palisades and Eaton fires escalated.”

The January 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles burned over 57,000 acres, killed 30 people, and destroyed 18,000 homes. Our deepest sympathy goes out to all those impacted.

Life-Saving Wildfire Preparation Tips

• Train your horse to load into ramped or step-up trailers of various sizes, and ensure you have access to transportation.
• Have a tag with your name and number on your horse’s halter. In rural areas where a head collar can get snagged on a branch, braid a luggage tag into their mane or tail. An ID bracelet can also be placed around their back foot.
• Use a leather halter as nylon can melt and cause burns.
• Plan multiple evaluation routes from your barn in case roads or pathways are blocked.
• Familiarize yourself with local evacuation centers and create a network of nearby horse owners ready to help each other in a crisis.
• Have an emergency three-day supply of water and feed available.
• Practice evacuation drills (in daylight and at nighttime) and know what order horses should be loaded in order to keep them calm.
• Install reflective tape along exit paths from the barn to guide rescuers during low visibility or nighttime emergencies.
• Barns should be fitted with smoke alarms and have fire extinguishers at strategic places, plus reliable water access via hoses.
• Use standardized/universal stall latches that can easily be opened by first responders.
• Create a secure outdoor area where you can put your horses during a fire.
• Avoid storing hay, shavings, or other flammable materials in the barn where horses are housed.
• Local fire departments will often be willing to do a property tour to offer advice on disaster preparedness and to identify risks. This will also familiarize them with the barn location and layout if they have to respond to an emergency.
• Download the free Watch Duty app, which tells you what fires are active in your area, provides live updates, and information on road closures and evacuation zones.

You can find more emergency preparedness guides for wildfires on our website.

The Importance of Microchipping

While tags, halters, neckbands, and bracelets can come off, and tattoos and brands can be altered, a microchip is a permanent identifier for your horse that cannot be changed.

“Implanting a microchip is a significant benefit for retrieving a horse after a natural disaster such as a wildfire,” said Dr. Katie Flynn, senior veterinarian of Equine Health and Biosecurity at US Equestrian. “Any temporary identification can all be accidentally or deliberately removed, or become no longer visible, and even a horse’s identifying marks can be damaged during a wildfire."

If a horse is microchipped, vets at evacuation centers can scan it and access the owner’s personal information. At LAEC during the Los Angeles fires, “the microchip option was amazing because officials and vets were able to look for them with a scanner and reunite horses with owners,” Nevin said.

Flynn recommends a Bio-Thermo microchip that also allows you to monitor your horse’s health after a natural disaster by giving their temperature.

As of Dec. 1, 2025, any horse that enters a USEF-licensed or -endorsed competition, regardless of breed discipline or level of competition, must have an ISO compliant 15-digit microchip.