FireHorse Rescue Kits was recently pinned as one of 10 Champions selected from a large group of entrants in The Plaid Horse Magazine's Equine Impact Small Business Award. With winners chosen based on the businesses' impact on the industry through innovation, community, and a positive impact on equine/equestrian quality of life, The Plaid Horse also awarded one Grand Champion, ten Reserve Champions, and ten Honorable Mentions. At less than 6 months in operation, FireHorse is undoubtedly one of the youngest brands to be recognized, and their innovative designs are already protecting private barns around the country in addition to major show grounds like Wellington International, the Kentucky Horse Park, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, and TerraNova Equestrian Center.

lan Bluman & Acajou presented as winners of the $25,000 #1 Education Place Grand Prix and a FireHorse Rescue Kit

Wellington, FL (October 18, 2024) - "Walking into a barn as a firefighter of more than 20 years, the fire safety risks seem both obvious and serious. From running fans to storage of combustible materials, there was no shortage of issues even in the highest end barns in Wellington; add in huge, flighty animals with questionable self-preservation skills and it would seem equestrian facilities as a whole are literal tinderboxes for disaster. As a Battalion Chief at a multi-city fire department in Florida, we do regular community risk assessments. After that visit to a local equestrian facility in Wellington, it was clear there could be an additional measure of safety & preparedness brought to equestrians across the country and world. The first goal was to give equestrians (grooms, riders, owners, etc.) easy access to functional and simple fire prevention tools.

Juan Manuel Gallego & Niagara D'ive Z

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.

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

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.

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, 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.