Osa, wildfires, and me: horse/human entanglements and climate change in the Pacific Northwest

Abstract This paper demonstrates the complexity, emotions, anxiety, and stress sparked by caring for a horse as a companion species exposed to climate impacts increasingly felt in the US Pacific Northwest. I use multi-species autoethnography to describe my experiences as a horse owner in Oregon facing repeated climate events from 2020 to 2022 in the form of wildfires, smoke, and unprecedented heat waves. In doing so, I explore how entanglements between horses and humans can increase human interface with climate crises. This essay centers emotions—fear, anxiety, worry—and shows how we can turn these emotions into forces for community resiliency. By recognizing community efforts to save horses from wildfires, I propose framing climate resiliency and response around points of interspecies care and love.