Colorado Horse Rescue rolls out horse evacuation app in California

Boulder County nonprofit Colorado Horse Rescue is celebrating a new chapter with the expansion of its app, HorseAlert.

HorseAlert was developed by Colorado Horse Rescue to help horse owners transport their animals to safety during natural disasters. Modeled after rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, HorseAlert notifies volunteer trailer drivers of nearby horses who need to be evacuated during dangerous situations.

While the free app has been active in Colorado since April of last year, the Colorado Horse Rescue team recently identified a new need the app could address. Last week, the nonprofit rolled out the app in California in response to the wildfires consuming the Los Angeles area.

“There were folks that we know in California (that said), ‘How hard would it be for you to get HorseAlert here?’ We wanted to offer it as a tool because it’s something that we have here,” said Katherine Gregory, chief executive officer of Colorado Horse Rescue. “We’re just grateful we can provide this for people.”

As of Wednesday, 26 horses and two drivers had been registered in California. In the week since the app rolled out in the state, Colorado Horse Rescue has worked with social media influencers and horse sites to spread the word about HorseAlert.

HorseAlert was developed by Gregory and the Colorado Horse Rescue team to provide an alternative to coordinating horse evacuations through Facebook groups. Due to the rapid pace of natural disasters, posts on Facebook can become outdated quickly. The influx of trucks and trailers trying to help can also block the roads for evacuees and first responders.

“It’s chaotic,” Gregory said. “There’s no organization. People show up with the wrong equipment. Or, people show up with enough equipment to move 80 horses and they only need to move 20.”

Last summer, HorseAlert was used to evacuate horses during the Stone Canyon and Alexander Mountain fires. According to Gregory, one driver was connected with a horse owner needing an animal evacuation within five minutes of opening the app.

“It was so beautifully used,” Gregory said. “We were all on it, watching it. It was pretty cool to see horses getting delivered safely to places.”

In Colorado, HorseAlert has over 2,150 registered horses and over 400 volunteer drivers.

Gregory said other states have asked to gain access to HorseAlert, as well. The problem, she said, is making sure there are enough drivers signed up in those states.

“It’s a community-powered system,” Gregory said. “So, unless there are drivers signed up, it’s not going to work.”

Cait Wilson, a member of the placement team at Colorado Horse Rescue, said she thinks HorseAlert will be on “every horse person’s phone” at some point.

“I could see it having a usefulness outside of a disaster situation because people are looking for transport all the time,” Wilson said of the app. “I think our industry is collaborative enough and wants to be supportive of other horse people. For me, whether I have a horse or I have a vehicle, that’s something I would be interested in being a part of.”