Horse supplies to have on hand for nay situation!

[Weeg]

I am building a vet shack with my family, where I can put lots of "vet" supplies, and treat my own, and my friends horses, and birds! I have a huge list of things to have on hand for chickens and ducks, now I jus need horse supplies. I am assuming the supplies are a lot alike, but I bet I am still missing some horse things! We have the basics covered, Vetrycin, a large bottle of betadine, vet wrap, gauze, anibaterial ointment, polo wraps, and boots to hold badges on. We also have a suture kit encase we wanted to do our own stitches, even though we would have to learn how to first! Wondering if there is anything else that is important to have on hand for horse illness and injuries! Thanks of reading this!
Ps. We also have an icing wrap for stress injuries, and a homemade soaking boot for that as well. Plus plant of sacrifice areas we can separate horses too. Thanks again! Avery

 

[littledog]

What a great idea! Applause to you, for planning ahead for emergencies.

I wish I'd made better plans when my horses had to be evacuated from the fire recently - there were no injuries and they're back home again with no ill effects, but I was definitely delayed by having a bunch of stuff in the trailer I had to clear out, and other stuff I should have had but didn't! From now on, their shipping boots, breakaway halters, head bumpers, hay nets and first-aid kit will all live in the trailer, and bags of chicken feed and lawn equipment I was keeping in there need to live somewhere else, like a locked shed!

Anyway, you have a good supply of stuff to start with, but I would add a few things. The most common medical emergencies for horses are injuries (mostly cuts/punctures/muscle or tendon tears) and colic.

You have a great start on the "injury" part of the equation. Soaking boots, ice wraps, betadine, vet wrap (get many rolls, you go through it quick!) and other things you have are great!

If you don't have these already, you should get a stethoscope and a thermometer and record the average vital signs for your individual horses. Temperature should be 99 to 101 degrees Fahrenheit, pulse for an adult horse should be 28-44 beats per minute, and respiration should be 10-24 breaths per minute. Obviously there's a lot of variation, so you should record these at different times to get an average for your individual horses, then you will know better when something's wrong.

I would leave out the suture kit, for horses. This is because the majority of bleeding injuries tend to be on the legs, which have many very tiny muscles, only a few blood vessels, and lots of tendons, plus every joint is made up of many little bones and cartilage that go together like puzzle pieces. Also, the skin there is very thin and fragile. For someone who is not a vet, to try to do sutures on horses' legs, it would be WAY too easy to accidentally nick a tendon, poke into a joint, or cut off blood supply to an important part of the skin. Your horse might survive, but the chances of him or her recovering enough to be sound again are really risky.

Your goal should be to stop the bleeding and save as much skin and tissue as you can, while waiting for the vet. For this reason, you should get several rolls of sheet cotton to have on hand, as well as butterfly bandages to close the wound temporarily. If there's a big, bleeding cut, put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, rinse off any dirt or foreign material with water if you can, squirt betadine on the sheet cotton and wrap it over the wound fairly tightly, but not tourniquet tight, since you don't want to cut off blood supply, then wrap the whole thing with fairly tight polo wraps. Then call the vet.

Other common injuries are puncture injuries, which you don't want to suture either, you want them to heal from the inside out and drain out any pus, so they don't get infected and form an abscess, or cause a total-body sepsis infection. You should get a large dosing syringe (not the needle, just the plastic part) to make it easier to flush out these types of wounds with the betadine you have. Take his temperature each day to make sure no infection has set in. Call the vet if his temp is higher than normal after 48 hours.

For an emergency colic, you might want to ask your vet for a supply of Banamine to have on hand, as well as an injection syringe and supply of needles in case you need to give it while you're waiting for the vet. Banamine is a pain-killer as well as relaxing the gut muscles, to relieve his discomfort as well as hopefully get the horse to poop. Also, get another large syringe (identical to the ones for puncture wounds, but a different one.)

If the horse is colicking (seems in pain, sweating, not eating or drinking, higher-than-normal heart rate and respiration, trying to lie down and roll) first, get him up on his feet, try to get him to drink water, dose him with mineral oil in the big syringe, then walk him around until he poops. If he poops but they're small and dry, give Banamine. No poop after walking at all, call the vet. Basically, if the digestive system is moving through even a little, it's ok to give Banamine and it will help them. If the digestive system is not moving at all, not even a little after oil, walking etc. it could mean your horse's gut is twisted and nothing will help except surgery.

Fortunately, most colics can be caught in the early stages and resolved without a vet.

So, TLDR: As well as all the good emergency supplies you have, get yourself a thermometer and a stethoscope and write down normal signs for your horses, get a full case of vet wrap, and several rolls of sheet cotton. Two large syringes (one for dosing, the other for flushing wounds) some mineral oil on hand, a supply of Banamine and a small syringe+ needles to inject it in emergencies.

 

[Weeg]

Thank you! We do have a small syringe with a needle, stethoscope, and verti bute, also! I will get ahold of the other things! Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Eva2020]

maybe the things you would need when you have to pack a hoof? vet wrap, duct tape, epsom salts? also eye drops (like farnam clear eye). I'm also a horse and chicken girl

 

[Kusanar]

I can't remember what it is called, but 3-M makes a product that is the same as the backing on cloth bandaids, the beige super sticky cloth ones that have all of the strings. That stuff is amazing for keeping a wrap in place, it will stick to hair or hoof without any problem. You can get it in 2" or 3" rolls I believe. I bought it by the case at my local feed store when I had a horse with a wound that needed to be wrapped daily.

 

[Weeg]

Vet wrap, and duck tape, are counted for, epsom salts and eye drops on the list! Do those eye drops work for chickens too? Infact, I have been looking for eye drops to use on my chickens too. Thanks everyone!
Adding the sticky bandages too!

 

[Eva2020]

I'm not sure if they work on chickens. It's formulated for horses, so I don't think so. But maybe!

 

[Weeg]

I will keep looking then! Thanks!

 

[chickity-chick]

I am building a vet shack with my family, where I can put lots of "vet" supplies, and treat my own, and my friends horses, and birds! I have a huge list of things to have on hand for chickens and ducks, now I jus need horse supplies. I am assuming the supplies are a lot alike, but I bet I am still missing some horse things! We have the basics covered, Vetrycin, a large bottle of betadine, vet wrap, gauze, anibaterial ointment, polo wraps, and boots to hold badges on. We also have a suture kit encase we wanted to do our own stitches, even though we would have to learn how to first! Wondering if there is anything else that is important to have on hand for horse illness and injuries! Thanks of reading this!
Ps. We also have an icing wrap for stress injuries, and a homemade soaking boot for that as well. Plus plant of sacrifice areas we can separate horses too. Thanks again! Avery

I own horses and I would recommend adding - wonder dust, dmso, eye drops/contact lens cleaner for flushing eyes, and banamine if you know of a vet who can give it to you and if you know how to give IV and IM shots. Ace is handy as well if you have an injured horse and need to sedate it to stay calm and not re-injure but again you need to know how to give shots. I also would keep some SMZs on hand as well. I also like to keep zephyrs garden skin rescue- its a wound salve but I like to put it on scratches and scrapes and it really makes a difference. Have a bucket, loose epsom salt, epsomsalt poultice as well, diapers, duct tape, and a thermometer. I hope this helps! Also never try to do anything like stitches with out proper training. I would never recommend stitching your self with out having a vets opinion on the injury first. If not, things could go bad especially if an injury is near a joints. There are also some products that i like to have on had such as equiderma horse skin lotion. Hope this helps. I've had horses my whole life so if you need any advice or help feel free to ask.