Horse Health, First Aid, and Bandaging

We had such a fun and educational night with Dr. Downey of Quality Equine Vets. She covered the horse health, first aid, and bandaging chapters of the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge study guide. The girls learned so much! But, before we get to what we learned, our girls reported back to the group about the research they found on their four-legged best friends.

What is our horse’s background?

As a part of the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge study session, the girls spent the last week researching more about their horse. What is their background? Who exactly are they? What characteristics does your horse share with its bloodline? What makes your horse unique? Here is what some of the girls found:

Lucy and Zoe

Lucy did research and found Zoe’s sire, Mezcalero. She found awesome information on Mezcalero on October Hill Farms website, where Mezcalero now stands. “Mezcalero is the son of the world-renowned Voltaire, who has gained acclaim both as a successful international competitor and as a sire of supremely successful offspring. He represented Mexico in the 1998 World Equestrian Games, and jumped in many Nations Cup competitions under rider Frederico Fernandez.”

Katherine and Ty

Katherine reported that she found out Ty’s sire is a world champion barrel racer. How cool is it that Ty’s sire is a barrel racer and Ty is a hunter?! What a versatile bloodline!

Katie and Emerald

Katie did research on her gelding, Emerald de Lux, and found Emerald’s baby pictures and his sire Emilion. Katie found videos of Emerald as a 6yo competing in Spain as well as information on Emilion. Emilion won the World Cup of Mill Street, and placed in multiple Grand Prix. Emerald is now eight and we can’t wait to see where their partnership goes!

It was great fun to hear the excitement from the girls as they were talking about the background of their horses. We have such a versatile and fun group of partnerships and love watching their relationships grow!

Horse Health, First Aid, and Bandaging with Dr. Downey

Dr. Downey put together a super educational presentation for our girls. She covered an array of topics and the girls were writing notes down as fast and their hands could write! We did a Facebook Live of a majority of her presentation (until my phone died!). You can watch the video below (if you haven’t already seen it on Facebook!). It was so great to watch the girls learn and be so interested in their horses health! Some of our girls even loved seeing the gory wound pictures. Great fun was had all around!

There were a LOT of takeaways. Here are a few:

Types of Colic

• Impaction – constipation
• Gaseous – gas build up
• Intestinal displacement or torsion – this is where a loop of the bowel has moved into an inappropriate position in the body and can leads to surgery
• Sand – this is when sand sits at the bottom of the colon or intestines. Sand can be easily ingested but is difficult to digest
• Ulcers
• Spasmodic – spasms of the smooth muscle in the intestines

Wounds & Bandaging

Dr. Downey covered a substantial amount of information regarding wounds and bandaging. Here are a few of the many takeaways:

• Bleeding
  • Small vessel bleeding wounds take about 12 minutes to clot
  • Larger vessels and arteries take about 1 hour to clot
• Wound Types
  • Incision – a clean cut caused by a sharp object
  • Laceration – a tear with jagged edges caused by rough or irregular surface
  • Abrasion – a scrape or sore that resembles road rash
  • Puncture – a narrow, deep wound
  • Contusion or bruise – the skin may still be intact but the underlying blood vessels and tissues are damaged. This is often caused by a kick or a blow.
• Wounds heal better under a bandage and the bandage can be taken off when the fleshy pink part of the wound is smaller than a nickel
• When bandaging, always remember the correct directions to wrap:
  • Left legs – counter clockwise
  • Right legs – clockwise
• To prevent contamination when using ointments – always wear gloves when applying

Eye Injuries

Always call the vet!

Choke

A choking horse is also known as an esophageal obstruction Always call the vet immediately when a horse is choking as horses are at risk for aspiration pneumonia. Symptoms of choke include: coughing, nasal discharge, drooling, looks like they are trying to gag, anxiety and discomfort. What do you do when a horse chokes and you’re waiting for a vet? Here are Dr. Downey’s tips:

• Stay calm and keep your horse very calm. This helps slow their breathing down
• Remove all feed from horses reach – you don’t want them to eat and get more stuff stuck!
• Allow your horse to keep their head low so the obstruction doesn’t continue to get stuck futher and risk going in the lung
• Don’t crosstie your horse – this keeps their head too high and always doesn’t allow them to stay as calm as possible

Allergic Reactions on Skin

It’s always a good idea to bathe your horse if there is a large allergic reaction, like hives, to help get the product of their body.

What should I always have on hand?

• Thermometer
  • An average normal temperature is 98.5º-110.5º
• Stethoscope
  • An average normal heart rate is 28-44 beats per minute
  • An average normal respiratory rate is 12-16 breaths per minute
• Vets phone number
• Your horse’s insurance information, if applicable

ADR – Ain’t doin’ right

Yes, this is a term that Dr. Downey learned in vet school! This is referred to when you call a vet and something just doesn’t seem right with your horse. Maybe they aren’t eating, they don’t want to move around, or something about their demeanor isn’t right: call the vet!

Did you know?

• On average, a horse drinks 12 gallons of water a day
• On average, horses should have eight piles of poo daily

The Bottom Line

Do what you can and what you feel comfortable with otherwise call for help!

USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge Week 3 – That’s a wrap!

Well, I think I covered most of what Dr. Downey went over in the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge study session 3! All-in-all, the girls gained invaluable knowledge from week 3 and we can’t wait for week 4! We are covering tack, shoeing, grooming and blanketing in study session four with two special guests; farrier, Matt Keil, to cover the shoeing chapter and Voltaire Design representative, Katie Dalsimer, to cover a portion of the tack chapter. Stay tuned!

Week 2 Quiz

Can you pass the quiz?