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Dec 1, 2023 · In this article, I'll walk you through the essentials of emergency response for horse injuries. We'll cover everything from recognizing the signs of distress to administering first aid and when to call the vet. Whether you're a seasoned equestrian or a new horse owner, these tips could be life-saving.
- Have These Documents Prepared in Advance of A Horse Emergency
- The Essential Equine Emergency Kit
- Wound Care For Horses
- Medications For Eye Injuries, Wounds, Soft Tissue Injuries, Or Colic
- Difficult Equine Emergency Situations
- Take-Home Message
First, there are several important documents and instructions to leave handy in the event you aren’t home and someone else has to manage your horse’s care during an emergency. Even when you are available, it is smart to have a full set of documents outlining your decisions made in calmer times. • In advance, write out, sign and date a document that...
Be sure to store all supplies completely out of reach of children, pets and other animals, and in as temperature-controlled an environment as possible. It works well to use a large Tupperware-type container to hold many of the supplies. Keep a list of what’s inside the container and make notes on what needs to be replaced when used. Also, make a no...
Cleanse a wound with cold running water to assess its extent, and to keep injured tissue supple and moist while waiting for your vet. Some horses won’t allow cold hosing, and in some cases, it is counterproductive to immerse a wound in water. Clean the wound as best as possible (only if safe to work on the horse) using salt water (1/2 tablespoon sa...
Learn to evaluate your horse’s vital signs under normal circumstances so you can compare normal values to findings during an abnormal health crisis. For a horse that shows colic pain or illness, obtain rectal temperature, pulse and respiration rate, mucous membrane color and refill time. A pink color of the membranes (like that seen beneath your fi...
Some situations require immediate veterinarian attention, procedures and specific drugs and/or intravenous fluids to deal with the crisis: choke, hemorrhage, nail puncture in the foot, fracture, tying up/ myositis, lameness and foaling problems, to name a few. But, in all these instances, your role is to help keep your horse quiet and calm while aw...
It helps to be prepared and to keep a cool head and calm demeanor when faced with an equine emergency. Gather information—vital signs and wound extent, for example—to assess the scope of your horse’s crisis. Then call your veterinarian with that information and ask for advice on what to do while awaiting your vet’s arrival. The best advice is to be...
Problems can be reduced by educating owners about emergency preparedness and first aid procedures. The most common types of equine emergencies are abdominal pain (colic), trauma, lacerations, and acutely ill foals.
Oct 17, 2014 · If the shock isn’t treated, the horse will eventually lose consciousness, the heart will stop and the horse will die. Horses suffer shock for a number of reasons including injury, colic, extreme fear, blood loss and dehydration.
Apr 11, 2023 · When an equine emergency arises, one of the best things you can do to help your horse is to have an emergency plan in place. Knowing your horse’s “normal” will help you determine the severity of a situation and relay information about your horse’s condition to your veterinarian.
Apr 12, 2017 · Severe bleeding, severe colic, dehydration, profuse diarrhea, excessive sweating, severe colic, heat stroke, snake bite, multiple bee stings, poisoning or major trauma can cause a horse to go into shock.
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Treatment of head injuries is mainly supportive to reduce secondary CNS damage. Horses with head injuries can be severely ataxic and should be handled and moved with extreme caution. If the horse is recumbent, short-term general anesthesia is best to transport the horse to a referral facility for further evaluation.
