Safe Handling, Emergency Signs and Where Your Role Stops

Horses are large, fast and easily frightened, and they are very good at hiding pain until a problem is serious. That combination makes safety and scope the most important part of any horse professional's knowledge: keeping yourself safe around a horse, recognizing the signs that mean the vet must come now, and knowing what you must not do while you wait.

In this lesson you will learn the handling habits that prevent many yard injuries, the emergency signs every horse professional should know, and the limits of your role. It explains principles; it does not replace hands-on training, a practical equine first aid course or your vet's advice.

Your own safety comes first

Many injuries around horses happen in ordinary moments, not dramatic ones. These habits protect you every day:

• Dress for it. Sturdy boots protect your feet, gloves protect your hands if a rope is pulled through them, and a properly fitted riding helmet is sensible when handling young, unfamiliar or excitable horses.
• Never wrap a lead rope around your hand or body. If the horse pulls away, you can be dragged. Fold the spare rope in your hand instead.
• Tie up safely. Use a quick-release knot, tied to a breakable loop of string rather than directly to a solid ring, and never tie a horse by the reins.
• Stay where the horse can see you. Keep a hand on the horse as you move around it, and do not stand directly behind it or duck under its neck or a tied rope.
• Keep an exit. In a stable, know how you would get out, and do not let the horse stand between you and the door.
• Crouch, never kneel or sit, when working near a horse's legs, so you can move away quickly.

Emergency signs: call the vet now

Call the vet straight away, and describe exactly what you see, if you notice any of the following. Before you go closer to a horse in pain, make sure it is safe to do so, and get a second person to hold it if you need to handle it.

• Signs of colic (abdominal pain): pawing, looking round at the flank, repeatedly lying down and getting up, rolling, sweating, or leaving food with fewer droppings than usual. Remove feed and follow the vet's instructions. If the horse is trying to go down or roll, do not stay in the stable with it.
• Signs of laminitis: reluctance to walk, shifting weight between feet, standing with the weight rocked back onto the heels, and feet that feel warmer than usual. Do not force the horse to walk. Follow the vet's advice on moving it and on feeding.
• Signs of choke: chewed food and saliva coming from the nostrils, repeated coughing or stretching the neck, often during or just after eating. Remove all feed and ask the vet what to do about water.
• Severe lameness, especially a horse that will not put weight on a leg at all.
• Any wound near a joint or tendon, any puncture wound, a wound that is bleeding heavily, or a wound on a horse that is also lame. Small wounds over joints can be far more serious than they look.
• Difficulty breathing, collapse, or a horse that cannot get up.

For a bleeding wound, once the horse is safely held: apply firm, direct pressure with a clean pad. If blood soaks through, add another pad on top without lifting the first. Once the bleeding slows, a bandage can hold the pad in place. Do not rinse or probe a wound that is bleeding steadily; cleaning is for the vet, or for minor wounds once bleeding has stopped. Call the vet as soon as you can (ask a helper to call while you keep up the pressure). The vet will also want to know whether the horse's tetanus vaccination is up to date.

The guide to reading horse body language and signs of pain describes the subtler signs that often come before these.

What you must not do while you wait

• Do not give any medication, including pain relief, unless the vet tells you to. Apart from the risk to the horse, pain relief can hide the very signs the vet needs to see.
• Do not try home remedies for colic, choke or laminitis.
• Do not decide it can wait because the owner is busy or "he does this sometimes". The vet decides how urgent it is.
• Do not put yourself at risk to handle a horse that is thrashing or rolling.

Where your role stops

A horse professional notices, keeps the horse and people safe, records and calls the right person early. What you record helps: the time you noticed the problem, the signs in order, when the horse last ate and passed droppings, and what the vet said. Pass the same account to the owner so nothing is lost.

The vet diagnoses, treats and prescribes. The farrier or qualified hoof care practitioner deals with feet, a qualified dental professional or the vet with teeth, and a saddle fitter with tack fit. Rules on who may carry out farriery and dental work differ between countries, so check your local rules.

Every equine emergency ends the same way: with the vet.