Shelter. In general in rural areas, the most common cause of power outages is some type of weather-related incident. What if your power is out because of an ice storm that knocked down tree limbs? And what if this same storm damaged your barn roof or horse sheds? As soon as possible, you'll want to inspect your horse shelters to see what, if any, damage has occurred. Then make sure that the shelter is safe for your horse and that it will, in fact, continue to provide adequate protection until repairs can be made. Some things will be easy to repair-loose roofing materials may just require a hammer and nails-but other problems-broken windows or damaged walls-may need more planning and work. If you discover that your shelter will no longer adequately protect your horses from the elements, you'll need to make new arrangements right away. This may even entail temporarily moving your horses to a neighbor's barn that escaped unscathed.
After you've made sure that your horses' basic needs can be met for the next day or so, then you can relax. There's plenty of time to get in touch with neighbors or utility companies to figure out what happened and when power will be restored. This information then can help you make additional long-term plans, if needed.
