Equine First Aid

by Dave Sauter, DVM

Although we had snow in late April, the summer months should be fast approaching. There are more horse activities during these months and people are showing, pleasure riding, trail riding and traveling more with their horses. This is also breeding and foaling season. With all this activity, travel, and commingling of horses, there is more risk of illness, injury and other health related problems. Consequently, it is a good time to review the basics of first aid and what is included in a first aid kit.

Know Your Horse
The first step in first aid happens before a problem develops. Knowing your horse and getting familiar with what is normal will make it easier to recognize when something is abnormal. Whoever has the job of feeding the horses and cleaning their stalls has some of the best information on how they are doing. Horses are eating machines. Like other herbivores, they are capable--with the help of fermenting microorganisms--of digesting parts of plants we cannot. But they need a lot of the raw material and can spend up to 16 hours a day eating. The remaining hours are spent playing, socializing, sleeping, looking around, performing people-related activities and such. When horses are not eating, there is a problem: with all this food intake, there is understandably quite a lot coming out the other end. Horses defecate around a dozen times a day. With this much production, it doesn’t take long for a problem in the plumbing to escalate into something serious.

Horses are creatures of habit; routine and predictability help prey animals like horses feel more secure. Whoever cares for the horses often becomes familiar with their routines and habits and can notice when something deviates from the normal pattern. Subtle changes can be an indication that the horse is ADR. ADR is an abbreviation for the technical medical term, “Ain’t Doin' Right.” As a prey animal, it is to the advantage of the horse to conceal when there is a problem and it is more vulnerable, so subtle changes may be clues of an underlying serious problem. An ADR horse needs further observation, monitoring and investigation.

Know What to Look For
Of course, many signs of problems are more obvious. For instance, a horse with colic is experiencing visceral pain. With milder forms of colic, it might be off feed, stoic, or distant with a stressed look in its eyes. The horse might have a tight abdomen, occasionally paw at the ground or kick at its belly, curl its upper lip, and may lie down excessively. More severe visceral pain can lead to more violent symptoms, such as frequently lying down and getting up, more violent rolling and kicking at the belly, sweating, and more difficulty keeping the horse up and moving. Other things to look for include painful conditions of the eye, which result in squinting, excessive tearing, and sometimes swelling of the eyelids.

With any problem, make an initial appraisal of the horse’s condition from a distance. This allows observation of the horse’s general appearance and behavior, gives you a chance to assess the horse’s safety as well as your own and will help determine what supplies, if any, you will need.

For instance, if there is severe bleeding, some type of pressure will be necessary to apply to the wound. Often it is very helpful to get the vital signs of the horse, which include the temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate. Normal temperature is 99.0 to 101.0 degrees Fahrenheit. The normal heart rate is 30 to 44 beats per minute, and the respiratory rate is 8 to 16 breaths per minute.

Look at the gums by lifting up the upper lip. The gums should be moist, and normal color is pink. Abnormal color can be pale, dark pink, red or bluish. Check capillary refill time (CRT) by pressing on the gums with a finger, releasing, and counting how long it takes for the color to come back. Normal CRT is less than one second.

Skin turgidity is checked by tenting the skin up near the base of the shoulder, releasing it, and watching how fast it bounces back - it should bounce back very rapidly. If it doesn't, this could be a sign of more serious problems.

The First Aid Kit
There are many items that could be included in the list of useful supplies. Here is a list of essentials:

· Bandage materials are necessary to apply pressure to control bleeding; to cover, protect and stabilize a wound; and to support an injured leg. Duct tape is useful as an outer, more resilient layer for foot bandages. A word of caution about bandaging horses: a lot of damage can be done by bandaging a horse improperly. The longer a bandage is going to be in place, the more important it is that it be applied properly and monitored regularly.
· Thermometer
· Stethoscope (for getting the heart rate and listening to gut sounds)
· Antiseptic ointment
· Antiseptic spray
· Pen light
· Flashlight
· Watch with second hand
· Mild surgical scrub (for cleaning wounds--must be rinsed off!)
· Sterile saline (can be purchased at your veterinarian’s office or homemade by adding a heaping teaspoon of table salt to a quart of deionized water)
· Iodine solution (useful for foot baths)
· Epsom salts (useful for foot baths)
· Knife (for cutting rope, twine, etc.)
· Bandage scissors (blunt tip)
· Latex gloves (to protect you from contaminating your horse’s wound and vice versa)
· Fly spray
· Cell phone
· Veterinarian’s phone number(s)

Supplies need to be stored in a clean, dry, safe area in an organized, accessible location so necessary items can be readily found when needed. Tote trays can be helpful to organize smaller items that can be easily carried to the stall, paddock, field, or wherever required. For trail conditions, liquids or ointments can be transferred into properly labeled smaller-sized plastic containers with screw top lids. Watertight containers or Ziploc bags can be used for other supplies. Some type of soft carrying case can be employed to store everything. For those going on more extended rides or trips, talk to your veterinarian about other items to include when you are further from veterinary assistance (e.g., eye medication, anti-inflammatory medication).

We all hope our horses stay strong, healthy and happy. Unfortunately, accidents do happen, as do illnesses and other health problems. Knowing your horse, having basic first aid skills and keeping necessary first aid supplies available will help you be prepared.