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Healthcare Articles

First Aid Kit for Horses by Cynthia Cooper

I’m a big believer in being prepared and forewarned so apart from a fully stocked first aid kit, it’s important to have some good books on veterinary care.
One of the best I’ve read is All Horse Systems Go by Nancy Loving DVM, available from www.amazon.com .
Another book she has co-authored is a handy size to carry in your first aid kit - called ‘First Aid for the Horse and Rider’ – Nancy Loving and Gilbert Preston.

This list includes each item's use and where to buy the supplies.
Remember, if you have a first aid kit and some good first aid books, you can do something for your horse until the vet arrives.

Available from a Homeopath or Pharmacy:

  • Rescue Remedy drops (for any kind of trauma or shock)
  • Homeopathic Apis (for insect bites and stings)
  • Arnica ointment & drops (for bruising, hematomas and sprains)
  • Aloe Vera gel (soothing for burns and wounds)
  • Savlon liquid or iodine – 7-10% solution should be diluted 1-3 parts water.
  • Hydrogen Peroxide – 3% solution (for cleaning puncture wounds)
  • Antibacterial hand wash
  • Large Padded wound cover
  • Space blanket (handy if you’re travelling)
  • Blunt nose scissors

Available from a supermarket

  • Natural salt – to make a wound cleaning solution add ½ tablespoon to 1 litre of water
  • Absorbent pads (the type women use) and disposable nappies (for poultices)
  • Washing cloths or gauze sponges for cleaning wounds
  • Clean towel
  • Disposable gloves
  • Tweezers
  • Pen, pencil & notebook (for recording vital info and times until the vet arrives)
  • Electrical tape & duct tape
  • Torch – manual charging or with fresh batteries
  • A plastic container with a lid to hold the first aid kit contents - this can also double as a dispensary tray (lid) and clean bucket (for washing solution).

Available from your vet supply store or saddlery store

  • Vet wrap elastic bandage roll
  • Elasto-plast adhesive bandage roll
  • Animalintex poultice (for leg swellings)
  • Large roll of cotton wool – to pad wounds
  • Paraffin gauze or other non-stick wound cover
  • Plain gauze dressing pads
  • Digital thermometer
  • Stethoscope
  • Scalpel
  • Various sized syringes (for wound/eye irrigation)
  • Hoof pick
  • Instant cold/hot pack
  • Your Vet’s phone numbers (listed so others using your kit can easily find)
    Record of your Horse’s normal vital signs (Heart rate, respiration, temperature)

    HEALING TREATMENTS
    Apart from the items above, here are some of the other healing treatments I like to keep in my First Aid kit for follow up use.

    Available from Pharmacies
  • Manuka Honey (for treating wounds, especially where proud flesh is evident)
  • Comfrey ointment (for treating bone injuries)
  • Tea Tree oil (for wounds)
  • Colloidal silver (antibacterial for internal and external use)

Available from veterinary supplies/Saddleries

  • Filtabac ointment (antibacterial sunscreen for wounds and white noses)
  • Stockholm Tar/Pine Tar (for seedy toe)
  • Fly Repellent ointment (to put around open wounds)

Teeth Check Time

One of the few things horses and humans have in common is the need for annual check up with the dentist.

In days gone by the farrier also practiced horse dentistry so it was easy to slot in a quick check of the teeth when he visited on a regular basis. But now horse dentistry is much more specialized and requires a little more skill than being able to wield a rasp to knock off the sharp edges. Therefore, we need to make a special effort to book the dentist for a yearly check up and do the necessary preparation before he arrives.

Agfest winners“Preparation – what preparation?” most people would say – thinking it’s the dentists job to educate your horse to have his mouth handled. Unfortunately, this approach has led to a lot of dentists having to resort to tranquilizers so they can do the job without injury and trauma to themselves and the horse.  Then you end up with a horse who increasingly fears the dentists visit.

It need not be this way if you are prepared to spend a few minutes a day or even a couple of times a week, desensitizing your horse to things around and in his or her mouth.

Just having a stranger wanting to prod and poke in the most sensitive part of their body is fear causing enough for a horse, so by getting them used to mouth handling, you are going to have a calmer, more accepting horse which your dentist will love.

To start with, you should be able to rub your horse’s nose and lips with your fingers without him shying away – use approach and retreat and gentle rhythmic pressure while gently holding the halter so you can follow his movement if he pulls away. Keep the rubbing going until your horse is showing signs of acceptance then immediately leave him alone for a minute.

As your horse accepts your hand and fingers in and around the lips, start with rubbing the gums (which some horses love) and then the tongue, remembering to stop when there are signs of acceptance (not pulling away, relaxing the head, licking).

Once they are comfortable with you rubbing the tongue on the side where there is a gap in the teeth, work towards acceptance of your fingers in the mouth on top of the tongue, entering where the gap is. Then see if you can gently hold the tongue for a second before releasing it, being careful not to pull it as you can break a very fragile bone connected to the back of the tongue, rendering it useless.

When your horse accepts you gently holding the tongue for a second or two, you can then work on acceptance of simulated dentists tools in the mouth. The rubber handle on a training stick or crop is a good thing to start with as its soft with rounded edges. You might even get them to like it by smearing it with molasses or apple sauce.

Acceptance of a worming tube will also help and I’ve heard from a student that cleaning the teeth with a toothbrush is something her ponies really seem to enjoy. 

Remember to allow the horse to check out anything you want to put in his mouth first, and even use it to groom him with so you are not being too direct line about getting it straight in the mouth.

The process may be quite fast for some young horses who are very mouthy anyway and love holding onto and chewing things so its good to introduce them to different objects and being able to gently rub their teeth with them.

For older horses who have maybe had a bad experience or who are naturally more wary and protective of their mouth, you will need to take it slowly and use some incentives like molasses or apple sauce.

Start with it on your finger then move onto other objects as they gain confidence which may have previously been shattered by rough handling or no preparation.

Choosing a dentist who has the right approach (slow and gentle) is also important for future confidence so ask around experienced horse people for recommendations. 

We need to realize that mouth handling should be a part of our grooming routine, just like cleaning out the hooves to check on growth and for anything caught in the hoof.

It gives you the opportunity to notice anything out of the ordinary such as an abscess, grass seeds lodged in the gums or other problems.

Some horses even need regular cleaning of tartar build up around the edges of some teeth on a regular basis which is something the dentist can show you how to do quite easily.

And the other big benefit is the trust it builds in the relationship with your horse so don’t delay, use the winter months when less riding time is available to develop your horsemanship in other ways just as beneficial for you and your horse.

Regular teeth checks can help you notice problems like this offset jaw which may need special treatment.

THE HEALING POWER OF HONEY on Severe Wounds by Cynthia Cooper

I'm always looking for natural alternatives when it comes to treating horses and I believe they can work well in conjunction with modern medicine.
A while ago now, I had a yearling filly (Ruby) badly injured from wire cuts. She had severed the flexor (front) tendons on her off fore and near hind, and had stripped an 8" section of flesh to the bone on the front of her off hind.

Both back legs had severed tendons and even after 10 days the bone showed through and proud flesh was rapidly developing following conventional treatment.

After initially stitching the worst cut, I had the tendons operated on so they would have some hope of repairing.
A week after the operation I had her home as a full time patient requiring her bandages changed every couple of days, confinement and a diet to help her heal.
Initially, I followed the vet's advice and used the antiseptic lotion and 'green grease' provided for under the bandages.

It only took about 5 days for the flesh to cover the exposed bone and at that point I started my alternative treatments.
I cleaned the wounds with Calendula tea and then applied pure Tasmanian bush honey.
I can't recall where I'd heard of using honey, but I was amazed at what I discovered.
Usually, leg wounds develop a lot of proud flesh which can become a real problem if not controlled.
Traditional methods include using things like 'Yellow Lotion", copper sulphate solution and very firm bandaging.
Or simply allowing it to grow then having it surgically removed.
What I found was that the honey seemed to naturally control the growth of the flesh so that it didn't develop more than necessary.

Upon further research, I found that Honey has long been known for its special anti bacterial qualities and ability to heal.
It has been used since Egyptian times and is currently making a comeback in human treatment of long standing wounds.
Apparently there are is even a certain type of honey from Queensland known for its exceptional healing ability.

The one thing that is important I discovered, is to use only pure, un-processed honey.
Heat treating honey (as they do for longer shelf life) seems to ruin its anti -bacterial qualities.
Back to the treatment of Ruby - as I lived only a 15 minute float trip from the beach I decided to use the sea to cleanse her wounds.
It became a great educational experience with regular float trips, learning to go in the sea (no waves) and to lead from another horse.
The only disaster I had, was once when riding Manny with Ruby in tow - he must have stepped on something that moved for all of a sudden he shot forward and I got dumped over the back, landing with a big splash under Ruby's nose!
This scared her enough to want out of there so she started to head out to sea! Luckily she responded to my calls and came straight back.

After treatment with honey and salt water, they were much improved.

After a month of bandaging, there was enough healthy flesh reducing the size of the wounds, to leave them open to the air.
I continued to apply honey twice daily as she often licked it off! Even though it was summer, I didn't have any problems with the honey attracting wasps.
As you can see from the photos, the healing was clean and the scarring minimal considering the original size of the wounds.

A few months later the scars are almost healed and proud flesh reduced.

Now her legs are healed and sound even though there is still some unsightly scars.

Fortunately she didn't suffer any loss of movement and the tendons repaired effectively.
I have since heard of several cases (and experienced myself) where honey was used straight onto smaller cuts and they healed very nicely.
For more information search on "honey + for + healing" which gives you hundreds of web sites to choose from.

Ruby recovered from her horrific leg wounds with the aid of honey.


Stringhalt is a common seasonal condition.
In Australia, stringhalt is commonly seen in summer and autumn as drought stressed pastures are overtaken with weeds such as false Dandelion (also known as Catsear or Flatweed) and Capeweed. Toxins from these weeds affect the nervous system resulting in an exagerated high stepping action in one or both hind legs.
In mild cases the symptoms show when the horse is asked to back-up or if there is a change of terrain, cold weather or if the horse becomes nervous or excited.
Horses with stringhalt can walk, canter and gallop but have trouble trotting properly.
If your horse is supected as having stringhalt there are several things you can do:

  1. Remove the horse immediately from the pasture
  2. Give them rescue remedy
  3. Feed magnesium in the form of a chelated magensium supplement such as Alleviate or Placide - 1 teaspoon spoon twice daily for a week then high grade magnesium (available from FRST.com.au) which can also be added to the feed or mineral mix you are using.
  4. Feed good quality pasture hay ad lib. (If you are feeding an insulin resistant horse who is prone to laminitis, soak the hay for a couple of hours before feeding).
  5. Add the herbs Valerian and Mugwort to the feed to help repair nerve signals.
  6. Feed a good general mineral supplement such as Equilibrium.

Horses left un-treated for this condition will suffer from muscle wastage and may never completely recover. Most cases resolve once the horse is removed from the pasture in a period of 2 weeks to 2 years, depending on the severity of the stringhalt.

Prevention is better - check your pastures for the offending weeds and if you have them, remove your horse before it shows symptoms and feed it on grass hay and supplementary feed according to use and condition.


If you have found these articles helpful and would like to assist the author with writing more and upkeeping this web site, please consider a donation through this secure Paypal facility.

All articles are authored by Cynthia Cooper (unless otherwise stated) and may be reprinted with written permission, aknowledgement and a link to my web site please.

 

 

 

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Disclaimer: The information contained within this website is soley the expressed views and opinions of the author, unless otherwise stated, and the author accepts no responsability for the way this information is used by viewers. The information is provided to help PREVENT problems, not to replace veterinary advice.

Contact:

Cynthia Cooper -
Natural Horse World

46 Wattle Lea Lane, Golden Valley. Tasmania, 7304. Australia.

Ph. 0419 372279

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