Luke Jensen & ABC Quantum Cruise Win FireHorse Rescue Kit in ESP Summer II $25,000 Grand Prix
Wellington, FL (August 19, 2024) - Florida's endless summer set the stage for ESP's Summer II competition this week, where Luke Jensen and ABC Quantum Cruise clinched the win in the show's highlight class, the $25,000 Keyflow Feeds Grand Prix. With the victory, Jensen has also become the first rider of 2024 to win a FireHorse Rescue Kit, designed for barn fire safety and horse evacuation. As part of their dedication to bring innovative fire safety into barns around the country, FireHorse and Wellington International have partnered to give away a Kit each week and also have the Kits strategically placed around their famed showgrounds and with their Night Check team.
Eye Candy Jumpers Sweetens Fire Safety Strategy with FireHorse Rescue Kits
Wellington, FL & Delano, MN (July 20, 2024) - In 2023, Eye Candy Jumpers experienced an equestrian's worst nightmare. Their facility in Delano, Minnesota caught fire and burned, with a large group of their mares, stallions, foals, and competition horses inside. Eye Candy's attentive team were able to get most of the horses out or into the indoor arena, so that there were no major injuries but the structures were a total loss despite a fast response from the local fire department. Nothing if not resilient, Eye Candy is now in the process of rebuilding the Minnesota farm, and will now be outfitted with FireHorse Rescue Kits in the new barn and at their Wellington, Florida facility to ensure they have the tools and strategy to keep their horses safe in the future.
Firework Safety Tips for Equestrians
While we all love celebrating Independence Day, it’s not the most horse friendly holiday. A few easy tips can keep your equine friends calm and prevent injury this Fourth of July
Premier Equestrian Partners with FireHorse Rescue Kits for Superior Barn Fire Protection
Sandy, UT (June 10, 2024) - Premier Equestrian, a long-time international supplier of equestrian equipment, footing, and expertise, is now the first official distributor for the innovative barn fire safety tool, FireHorse Rescue Kits. Premier Equestrian’s line of arena footing, arena drags, dressage arenas and horse jumps, ground and floor products, and barn accessories are designed for safety and performance. Premier footing products and the Premier Arion Ebb & Flow System sets the industry standard for FEI-level show jumping and dressage arenas, and can be found at Wellington International/The Winter Equestrian Festival, the Desert International Horse Park, Del Mar Equestrian Center, and is promoted by Olympians Steffen Peters and Adrienne Lyle. In June, they added to their ranks of cutting-edge equipment the FireHorse Rescue's patent pending line of barn fire safety and horse evacuation kits, designed by lifelong equestrians and career firefighters to enhance daily barn fire safety.
Hay Fires: Prevention and control
Hay fires usually occur within six weeks of baling, but they may occur in hay several years old. Fire can occur in loose hay, small bales, large bales or in stacks. The fires can occur in hay stored inside as well as in hay stored outside. Regardless of when or where the fires occur, the most common cause is excessive moisture.
Freshly cut forage materials are not dead. Some respiration continues and a very small amount of heat is produced. This heat generated by respiration is probably of little consequence except that it may help provide proper conditions for growth of bacteria. As the moisture content of the crop decreases during the curing process, respiration will slow and eventually cease.
Fire Prevention and Safety Measures around the Barn
Barn fires are a farm owner’s worst nightmare. Most have tragic results such as the loss of human life, animals, valuable equipment, or the building itself. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) estimated that during the period 2013–2017, 326 deadly barn fires occurred.
These fires resulted in one civilian death, ten civilian injuries and $28 million in direct property damage, annually; the number of animals lost in these fires was not reported.
Wellington, FL: Community Risk Reduction
Wellington, Florida is home to the world famous Winter Equestrian Festival, and at any given time has thousands of horses within the service area of the Palm Beach County Fire Department. At the peak of season, there can be 17,000 – 20,000 horses in Wellington (Capone 2019). With this influx, and on a daily basis in Wellington, thousands of bales of hay and bags of shavings are stored and consumed. Thousands of fans are run 24/7 in open air buildings. Soiled shavings and manure are stored in close proximity to wooden structures. On Wellington’s main show grounds, horses live in wooden barns with more than 40 stalls running fans in each stall (Montague 2015). The barns are close together. Despite large risks for fire, I doubt that even one groom in charge of these hundreds of stalls on-property and thousands off-property would be able to access a fire extinguisher quickly or have even a basic knowledge of fire prevention and safety. The same goes for the owners and the riders. There is a major need for a focused program to address equestrian property safety and education of equestrian workers, riders, owners, trainers, farriers and vets to ensure the risk of fire, destruction and death at equestrian properties is dropped.