For the third year in a row, a collaboration between The J.F. Shea Therapeutic
Riding Center in San Juan Capistrano and the Orange County Fire Authority is training firefighters in the essentials of rescuing horses and larger animals in cases of an emergency.
After a terrifying moment in July 2021, the partnership was born. Sarah Booth, the Communications Director at Shea, took a ride with one of the center’s horses, Choco. They were separated during the ride after a bird hit them on the trail and spooked the horse. While searching for a long time, Booth ultimately found Choco in a ravine surrounded by rebar in the San Juan Capistrano Open Space trails behind their property, but there was no clear way for her to save him.
A call to 911 resulted in a team being dispatched to the scene to harness Choco to be dug out and airlifted out of the ravine and back to the Shea Center. From terror to triumph, the team came together in a celebration a year after the event. The Shea Center realized that most of the OCFA did not have live-horse or large-animal rescue training and started this training program then.
“When we found out that [OCFA] didn't train with live animals, we said, ‘You know what? We've got something for you here, and we can help you. We are so grateful for all you do and all the care you give to the horses and the humans when you go out in the field, ’ ” said Dana Butler-Moburg, CEO at The Shea Center.
During three days of hands-on training with real horses at the center in late March, hundreds of firefighters learned how to be around and handle horses. On the first day of training, out of a group of more than 50 firefighters, only a handful raised their hands to acknowledge they had been trained outside of a plastic horse harness training and that they knew how to save a larger animal in an emergency.
By the end of the training, they had learned skills through four different stations around the center that would help them be more confident when confronted with a situation like what happened to Choco and the Shea Center four years ago. The four stations are set up to give them experience in harnessing, handling, trailer loading, the basics of equine psychology, and an anatomy lesson with Dr. Richard Markell, Shea Center’s veterinarian of 25 years.
Their horses, trained to provide therapy to kids and adults with special needs, give firefighters a unique experience of working with calmer animals prepared for anything.
“The Shea Center has helped us out with a lot here, with most of it just becoming more comfortable around the animals,” said Clayton Record, part of Orange County Fire Station 56 serving Rancho Mission Viejo. “Knowing how to interact with them, when to interact, when not to interact, and general safety are so important when we go into a rescue with a large animal.”
Record, who has been involved with a few rescues involving horses, knows how important this training is for everyone involved and only enhances the training they receive to become firefighters.
“If we can stay calm, it helps us to think more clearly and act decisively and keeps everyone else on the scene a little bit more calm as well,” Record said. “You see a larger animal rescue in the movies and TV and think that you would know exactly what to do. But until you've actually been around the horses, I think it's different. Just having that awareness component is super helpful and it keeps everyone safer.”
As an annual training event, firefighters from all over Orange County and beyond are welcome to join The Shea Center to learn how to better deal with horses to better protect everyone involved.