The Horse 911: What's Your Emergency? : horse

Top 5 Ways Not to Get Kicked

REBECCA — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:48:00 GMT

The more time I spend around horse people, the more I have noticed that we have an attitude problem about getting injured and particularly about getting kicked by a horse. It seems that we wear a badge of honor for surviving a kick (which we certainly deserve since some people don’t survive it!).

Just yesterday I was listening to a tale from a local veterinarian whose leg was severely injured by a client’s horse. Thank goodness she was able to resolve the issue with surgical repair and seems to be healing beautifully.

Some of us (veterinarians, technicians, emergency rescue personnel, etc.) have even more exposure to the possibility of a kick due to our work. Kicks are a common enough to those who simply are leading or playing with horses, much less when one has to evaluate an injury or treat it up close and personal.

To avoid getting kicked, take care when moving near or between two horses standing or tied near each other.

Photo: Rebecca Gimenez

Personal story: I was kicked really hard when I was a teenager by a loose horse in a pasture that I was riding in. He ran up to say “hello,” I thought, then whirled to kick and my horse got out of the way, but my leg did not. I still have to bone swelling to prove it happened.
So how can we minimize the chances of getting kicked by a horse? I am sure that many of you have good ideas, but this would be my top list of ways to prevent injury kicks.

Do not enter the space with a horse (and particularly more than one horse) at feeding time. Horses are most aggressive at feeding times, and while attempting to fend off another horse, might accidentally catch you in the crossfire. Additionally, horses that normally would never consider kicking you on purpose, might do so as they get so excited about feed.
Spend time with your horse reducing his tendency to kick by desensitizing him to having his feet and legs, tail, body, and belly handled. Teach him that he doesn’t need to defend himself from you. A few minutes spent regularly just calmly brushing and picking hooves, rubbing the animal and checking for bruises or hot spots will pay off by teaching him that you aren’t trying to hurt him. (Plus, your farrier and veterinarian will appreciate your kind and easy to handle horse.) If you have a particularly ticklish or testy horse spend extra time getting him used to having ropes, whips and other items around his legs and feet as part of a desensitization program.
Learn more about horse body language so that you can tell when a horse is moody or aggressive. We all have heard not to walk up directly behind a horse where he can’t see us well, but this pays off especially if you are walking through a herd of loose horses. You might be able to spot a developing problem and more easily step out of the way. Don’t pin a scared horse into a corner, a trailer, or even a stall as it might kick just to defend itself from you. And watch all the horses around you, so that you don’t endure the kick that was aimed at another horse.
When you are forced to get close to a horse for grooming, injury treatment, saddling, or even applying methods to rescue him from entrapment, try to stay close to the animal with one hand on his body so you can feel his tension. This even works when handling the hind end. Although you will still get hit by the force of the kick, the forces should be less and the leverage that the kick has to break a bone is lessened.
Don’t walk between tied horses (crossties, high-line, opposite wall ties, etc.) that might kick at each other and accidentally get you, or worse, entrap you between them skirmishing. This extends to riding with friends: Never let your horse get close enough to their horses’ hind end that it could kick at yours. Horses are amazingly fast, and your horse might turn just in time to let you absorb the blow on the side.

As you can imagine, handling horses is a constant learning experience. The best thing we can do is not become complacent or allow ourselves to be distracted when around horses. What are your comments and stories? Please share your stories if you have ever been kicked: How did it happen and what did you learn?

The Birth of DaVinci Equine Emergency Transport, Maryland

REBECCA — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:21:00 GMT

In the vein of the last few blog entries, I am trying to feature the efforts of people, teams and communities that are involved in some aspect of Equine Technical Rescue. This week I’d like to introduce Nicole Ehrentraut, owner of Da Vinci Equine Emergency Transport in Maryland (www.DaVinciEquine.com), who will discuss in detail about the first year since starting her business in Maryland to be able to both transport and respond to emergencies.
--Rebecca

By Nicole Ehrentraut

In Montgomery County Maryland’s beautiful agricultural reserve, horse and cattle farms abound. According to a 2007 census, more than 900 livestock-related farms are here, and about 800 of them are horse farms.

Right where we live in the National Capital Region, there are several major highway systems for numerous horse and livestock trailers daily. If there is a traffic accident involving large animals, it becomes paramount that proper training and techniques are used to protect human life, to protect expensive equine investments (racehorses and international show horses, as well as “priceless” and well-loved backyard horses), and to facilitate the speed at which the infamous traffic congestion is cleared.

Who does this job where you live?

Getting Started: Three years ago by the local fire chief asked me to teach his fire fighters some horse handling techniques. I was stunned to learn that they had virtually no large animal handling skills. I had always assumed that if there was a trailer accident or other large animal incident that the rescue squad just knew what to do, and so did my vet. I was wrong.

So when a friend suggested that I get training in emergency technical rescue for animals, it seemed a no-brainer. I Googled a Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue (TLAER) course and showed up to it in Texas. I learned to avoid common mistakes during large animal incidents where human and horse injury could have been prevented. I had found where I belonged--in the world of equine sports (albeit an unusual one!).

I signed up for applicable courses with the mission to create a local and regional equine ambulance capable of on scene technical rescues, and customized transport for injured horses. Training, research and internship with DEFHR gave me the knowledge and skills to get involved, purchase a trailer, and then customize it for technical rescue and specialty hauling (that took six months.)

Specializations: Storage for the Rescue Glide (ceiling), specialty tool storage, extra padding, i.v. bag hangers, support beam for an equine sling, second trailer and truck tires, video camera and flashing lights on the ambulance for high visibility on scene and during transport. Meanwhile I was collecting equipment specialized for large animal rescue.

I based my purchases on veterinary advice, asking questions, such as:

If you needed to work out of my ambulance during a horse show, what would make your life a lot easier?
What kinds of first aid supplies would be good?
What situations have you experienced where a horse could have been saved but for the ability to transport it to a local equine hospital?

My goal was to be able to serve the community on all levels. Not just for shows or veterinary services. I wanted to transport injured horses to the hospital (whether totally recumbent or standing on three legs).

Could I handle virtually any emergency rescue situation for vertical lift, extrication out of mud or ice, etc.?
Could I pick up deceased animals for their owners in a way that showed respect for their horse instead of having a wagon show up and drag their beloved horse off with chains?
Could I give local courses on emergency preparedness, horse trailering safety, and simple rescue techniques to local barns, 4-H clubs, pony clubs, and give first responders basic safety information?

I realized there was a huge safety gap in the horse community. For example, many barn owners really wanted to have an emergency plan but were always too busy handling day to day chores to be able to sit down and actually put one together. Too many horse trailers being driven with little to no experience hauling, or with incorrectly matched towing vehicles, but the drivers were not aware of the challenges.
But how to do all these great things, and still pay the bills?

Last year we incorporated. Sharing safety provided better marketing visibility for the company - branding our name and logo, as well as show our excellent training so folks feel safe hiring us and trusting their horses in our hands.

As a secondary goal, we provide some casual hauling to vet appointments, horse shows, trail rides, picking up horses bought, or to local horse shows. We also get hired for larger shows as the on-call ambulance. After all, veterinarians get paid for their services, they save lives, but in order to do so, they pay a lot of money for their training and special equipment. So did I. I believe strongly in this and know that once our service catches on, it will be a huge help to both the equine community and to first responders.

Team members and uniforms: It is important to look unified as a team, professional, and easy to identify on scene. There are so many “rescues” that have poor reputations, it smears the industry. Therefore, we dress like a special ops team. Yes, it’s “branding” that people already easily associate with expertise and respect. It works.

I have the words “Team Leader” written on my clothing so folks know who to go to for decisions. Also, everyone’s name is on their apparel so that folks know who they are talking to. It makes things more personal. Our goal is to not only be professional and state-of-the-art, but to be friendly and approachable. We want people to want to hire us because they had great service. It also makes us memorable.

I have official highly trained team members, who have special qualifications they must meet, such as Operations Level TLAER, FEMA courses, CPR/First Aid, and other classes. All of my team members must have rabies and hepatitis A and B shots.

We meet monthly and train bi-monthly. I run my team similar to the way a fire department would run its team. It’s creates a hierarchy and everyone knows the rules and earns their way to higher levels on the team.

We have also realized the need for auxiliary volunteers. These are not full team members but are extra help and our backup plan if none of the official team members can come on a rescue. I determine their level of involvement on scene based on their skills and the seriousness of the incident.
Legal and insurance: It took more than a year to get liability insurance. It was difficult for companies to figure out how to rate us since we were involved in risky activities. There really isn’t much precedence for equine emergency response teams and specialized trailering.

This has been the most difficult part of the business so far. Out of grief, owners sometimes look for someone to blame, and the emotion leads them to do extreme things. From this, we learned to bill up front, using a credit card. Clients pay us a flat fee immediately upon arrival. If there is a dispute, it goes through the credit card company.

We also have a transport contract, a carcass removal contract and an incident report. Because of our weight and commercial capacity as a business, we need a Department of Transportation (DOT) number. Figuring out these laws is difficult in the beginning. We stop at weigh stations because we are over 10,000 lbs. but under 25,000 lbs., so we do not have to do drug testing for employees, CDL license, etc. We do keep driving logs, get the trailer and truck inspected once a year, and go through the initial DOT inspection within the first 18 months of business.

I currently on have one team member with enough experience driving horse trailers whom I trust to drive our clients’ horses. Others are going through extensive training with me to learn special skills to be able to haul horses in distress.

A look to the future: We are currently partnering with Code 3 Associates to be able to respond with them for natural disasters. We also respond with the NDART for the Humane Society United States and American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We’ve been on scene for two large neglect rescue impounds already.

We are working together with other equine ambulances in the industry. This team work is incredibly important because we can all help each other and cover more area.

Conclusion: In our first year, we’ve been on several emergency incidents, mostly horses down and needing assistance to stand. Some lived, some did not. It’s part of the business. But we know we did all we could do. We’ve been hired to transport horses that needed our sling in the ambulance to go to Cornell and Marion Dupont Equine Hospitals, an injured famous demonstration Appaloosa to his home in Georgia, and even an elderly horse that simply needed a little extra help for a very long ride to a barn farther south. We’ve been to several horse shows.
We’ve brought many deceased horses on their final journey, and been hired for long and short casual hauls. We have a Facebook page, a website and plan to attend local veterinarian conferences to make sure the vets know we are here to help--usually it’s the vet who calls us for emergencies!
We have flyers up in tack stores, and have created magnets with our info and a place to put your vet’s info readily available. These flew off the counters. For a first year, it’s been pretty great!

Thank you to Nicole and DaVinci Equine Emergency Transport. Good luck and thank you for sharing your learning curve. I hope that others will get involved in this specialty area.

What are your experiences with using a for-hire ambulance for your horse? What can you share with others about what to look for?

Milton, Ga., Response Program is a Huge Success

REBECCA — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:17:00 GMT

In this blog, I am trying to focus attention on groups or teams of people who are taking the ideas of large animal and equine technical rescue and implementing it in their communities. Numerous groups across the country are providing equine emergency rescue or even ambulance services to horses and owners within their localities. This week we will take a look at the Milton Technical Large Animal Rescue Unit in Milton, Ga., which has outfitted its department with a cache of large animal equipment, responds to needs within its jurisdiction and region, and is performing training on an ongoing basis.

The Milton unit used a Becker sling to perform a textbook rescue on this mare, who was trapped in mud.

Background: In 2008, Milton, Ga., initiated training in large animal emergency rescue of several of their firefighters and began adding large animal rescue knowledge, equipment and training to the department’s cache and capabilities. Within a matter of weeks, team members were getting calls to assist with horses in mud, overturned or through the floor of trailers, and trapped in various entrapment scenarios.

Battalion Chief Bill Bourn says, “We have had a tremendous response to our TLAER program since its inception in August of 2008. The local equestrian organizations and boarding and training facilities have helped to spread the word about the services we offer.”

The team has responded to numerous incidents (more than 100) during the program's five years and is always happy to help both horses and their owners with a safe, efficient plan for rescue.

A recent example: A news story from the local NBC affiliate highlighted the teams efforts last summer.

Community involvement: Chief Bourn said, “We are frequently asked to bring our equipment trailer to their facilities or to community events to tell about our experiences and to demonstrate some of our rescue techniques. The community understands and accepts the fact that although this service is provided by the fire department and its personnel, the training and equipment used for TLAER incidents is funded solely by donations and that no taxpayer funds are used for this program.”

This donation stream has even allowed Milton to buy one of the Randy Rescue Horse Mannequins that it can utilize for professional training of their personnel, as well as a great prop for educational seminars.

Jurisdictions working together: Milton and its surrounding jurisdictions are working together on these types of incidents. Due to a very large equine population within their response area, and being within the piedmont and mountains of Georgia where there are numerous very active horse trail systems, the teams has many callouts to assist. Milton has mutual aid agreements with Cherokee County and Forsyth County Fire departments. These jurisdictions border the city of Milton and fall within the approved response areas for the team. The biggest obstacle they have faced is getting the public to utilize the 911 system when they need large animal rescue services (instead of calling Milton directly).

The plan currently requires the jurisdiction where the incident has occurred to dispatch one of their units first, then request through the dispatcher a mutual aid request for Milton's team to respond. The dispatcher then calls Milton to respond. This is a work in progress and it continues to get better as time goes on.

Chief Bourn notes, “We also have at least a half dozen large animal veterinarians who are familiar with our program and have agreed to respond (if available) when we request them.”

Ongoing training: The City of Milton Fire Department currently has 17 personnel trained to the operations level, and the entire department has been trained to Milton's "awareness" level, meaning that the personnel is trained to know what each piece of equipment is and what it is used for so they can be safe when working around TLAER incidents. All of our personnel participate to some extent, in TLAER training for the department, and they continue to send personnel each year to get the operations level training.

If you need more specific information about the Milton Technical Large Animal Rescue Unit and program or how you can get your fire department involved in similar efforts, please contact: Bill Bourn, Battalion Chief City of Milton Fire Department, B-Shift, bill.bourn@cityofmiltonga.us, 770-827-1049.

Those of you that have large animal or equine teams or ambulances in your area, please share that information with us on this post. We are always interested to see what is out there--around the country or around the world. Thank you!

University of Florida VETS Team: Disaster Response

REBECCA — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:28:00 GMT

In my travels around the country, I meet the most fascinating people, and I realize that there are so many programs that are being implemented to plan and assist animals (of all species, but including horses) in emergency situations. I would like to share a few of these with you in upcoming posts that will focus on equine disaster planning and response at local and regional levels.

The University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service Team

This week I'd like to introduce John Haven, director of the University of Florida’s (UF) School of Veterinary Medicine. John and I met about 10 years ago. He was driven to improve his team’s response capabilities and provide training to their members. Since then he has taken the entire State Animal Response Team (SART) model as originally drafted by North Carolina, and pushed it to becoming a nationally known, cutting-edge program for other teams to consider modeling themselves after.

In a state that is well known for its horse evacuations, this is a wonderful thing.

In the beginning:

UF’s College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service team was a product of the response requirements placed on the college by the state during the devastating 2003 hurricanes. Despite having no dedicated equipment, team assignments, or training, John rallied volunteers and deployed to Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, and Jeanne, and included medical, logistical, ICS command, and rescue responsibilities.
At the end of 2003, the State Veterinarian’s Office, the Florida Veterinary Medicine Association, and the College of Veterinary Medicine leadership met to decide what kind of a role the college would play in future responses. It was decided the college should provide:

Rapid veterinary infrastructure assessment;
Logistical support for open veterinary clinics unable to obtain supplies or fuel;
Operate a self-contained veterinary clinic of up to 18 team members for all species; and
To perform animal technical rescue.

The college director was also added to the state SART steering council. The college proceeded to purchase trucks, trailers, tents, generators, medical equipment, etc., and the team obtained extensive training through TLAER, Inc.

Where they are today:

The team typically participates in at least one deployment exercise a year with other national, state and local partners to practice its hospital and deployment capabilities, and practices its technical rescue skills with local agencies on a regular basis.

The team works with multiple student clubs to develop a series of labs involving animal technical rescue skills with the goal of preparing UF veterinary graduates to be able to assist their communities during disasters or technical rescues. Many of these students take Incident Command System classes through the UF CVM Maddie’s Shelter Medicine program, and higher level ICS 300 and 400 classes are also provided. This ensures that they know how to “plug in” to emergency response programs and on scene.

The significant size and capability of the team makes it one of the largest in the country. The team is deployable under federal declarations, to include EMAC to other Southern states, within the state under a governor’s declaration, and locally under mutual aid agreements, or for technical rescue 24/7/365 within a two-hour range of the Gainesville, Fla.

The team has been involved in several local or regional horse, dog, and cow technical rescues, including mud extrication and high angle sinkhole rescues. The team has transported animals related to wildfires and assisted local agencies with several large (600+) animal hoarding cases performing medical evaluation and animal transport.

Realizing that Florida is a large state, and needing coverage beyond the UF coverage zone for animal technical rescue, the college developed a DHS approved Operations Level course for animal technical rescue, and has delivered this two-day, hands on, high intensity training, to the seven Regional Domestic Security Task Force zones across the state.

Besides this training, FL SART was able to obtain equipment caches for each of these teams. All of the equipment is on the AEL-approved equipment list, including the large and small animal technical rescue equipment. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has a team and two caches.

Into the future:

Recognizing there is a broad range of animal technical rescue training programs, and that few fit into the “awareness,” “operations,” and “technician” level standards followed by first responders, many fire departments are uncomfortable performing animal technical rescue. In most cases they do the best they can, but sometimes at great risk to themselves and the animals they try to rescue.

To attempt to improve this variety of programs into a standard, in March 2012 John joined the National Fire Protection Association and convinced the 1670 Committee on Technical Rescue that there was a need to develop a standard. He was appointed co-chair of a task group on animal technical rescue to and spent the last year working with subject matter experts from TLAER, Inc., University of California, Davis’ vet school, and various other agencies around the country.

The standard was addressed by the committee in Feb 2013, to be published in late 2013. and will outline the standard for team capabilities and standards for the next five years. Its next task will be to work on individual training standards (NFPA Committee 1006). The VETS team equipment and training has been funded primarily through grants and donations. For more information, please contact John Haven, CVM, director and VETS team leader, at 352-294-4254.

Handling Non-Medical Trail Emergencies

REBECCA — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:05:00 GMT

Out on the trail when an emergency occurs, you might wonder, “Who should I call?”

And of course since you will have a cell phone (a crucial part of any emergency kit) your first call should be to 911 for assistance with any people that are potentially injured, as well as extrication assistance for the horse. If you have a Large Animal Rescue trained team locally that is who you should ask the dispatcher for help.

The second call should be to a local large animal veterinarian, because every animal that gets trapped should be evaluated after extrication for lacerations, stress injury, bruising, dehydration, and other unseen injuries that occur. In fact, a professional emergency response team will refuse to respond to a large animal emergency without a veterinarian being called to the scene or on call to respond.

If you have friends or neighbors with horse sense and some tools, you might want to call them as well. However, some of the backcountry and trail extrication scenarios that occur will require more technique and specialty equipment than the average backyard horse owner may have available. Specifically, mud extrication and ravine rescues can require portable compressed air, rope, and mechanical advantage systems, as well as sedation from the veterinarian.

All are good reasons to initiate an emergency call in the first place, and if you wait too late and it starts getting dark or raining then you can expect that the speed of the response will be very slow and the horse’s medical condition will deteriorate faster.

For example, in 2005 we were called to a horse incident in the Great Smokey Mountains where a horse had slipped off a steep trail, slid more than 50 feet down, and when the owner last saw it, was trapped between a tree and a boulder, upside down. It was about 4 p.m., and dark came to the mountains earlier, so by 8 p.m. it could not be seen.

The owner called for help by hiking up to the top of the mountain for cell coverage, and the park rangers sensibly required her to hike down to the campsite as rain began to fall and the temperatures fell into the high 40s. Unprotected, the owner would have died of hypothermia that night. We got the call at 8 p.m. and drove several hours to get there, sliding into our sleeping bags by midnight so we could begin the search at first light.

We hiked almost 4 miles up the mountain towards the Appalachian Trail--the ranger, a couple assistants, and us. I have to admit the entire hike I was expecting to find a dead horse when we got to it. Heck, we were hoping that the owner could remember where she last saw the horse! And yes, we took a gun with us to dispatch it humanely in case it was injured or in shock and dying. I had many thoughts on that wind-sucking hike of how horrified I would be if it were my horse left out there overnight.

Imagine our surprise when we rounded a bend and heard a low whicker, the horse was standing on the trail, shivering violently but alive and very happy to see people. Somehow he had wiggled enough (and the owner had removed the saddle girth while he was stuck and before she had to leave him) to get out of his predicament in the dark, cold, and rain. He found his way back up to the trail. The owner had faithfully toted the horse’s blanket up the mountain and we blanketed him, gave him all the water we had in our backpacks (dehydration is a consequence of stress) and let the horse drink out of every rivulet and puddle on the way slowly back down the mountain. When he reached the bottom, we put an IV for fluids in the horse, fed him a warm mash of feed and alfalfa, loaded him in the ambulance, and drove him immediately to the veterinarian, who was able to treat and stabilize him. The horse survived.

This scenario demonstrates that coordination, having a plan, and having a cell phone are crucial before you get on your horse and step into the backcountry or even a local trailhead.

What are your experiences and stories related to these types of scenarios? What are your suggestions for trail tools and equipment to stay safe and react effectively?

Accidental Hypothermia In Horses

REBECCA — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:17:00 GMT

With the horrifically cold temperatures all over the United States this week, I wanted to focus on the prevalence and problems associated with accidental hypothermia. Two examples took place this week in the United Kingdom and here in the United States.

A condition that can occur in any animal (horse, dog, cow, human) that is exposed to hypothermic conditions (for example, falling into a mud hole or pond, or getting trapped in something while it's raining). Rewarming of the hypothermic victim should only be performed by personnel who have a clear understanding of the adverse effects of improper rewarming. The hypothermic horse may die due to improper handling during the extrication and/or rewarming procedures. Arrhythmia/ventricular fibrillation can occur as a result of rough handling during rescue even under mild hypothermia. This is also known as “post-rescue collapse” or ”re-warming shock” and should be carefully evaluated by the veterinarian.

There were so many cases of horses extricated from mud and pond scenarios in late 2010 thru early 2011 that it initiated our investigation of what was going on with the sudden deaths of animals that had otherwise been successfully extricated but then died within 24 hours. A 2011 paper by Dr. Tomas Gimenez highlighted the challenges for firefighters, veterinarians, and horse owners called to the scene of exposed horses. He pointed out that in these scenarios it is most important to try to initiate first aid, extricate the victim, then rewarm the core body temperature of the horse without attempting to warm the extremities or the cold skin.

Well meaning efforts (skin rubbing or heating) can be counterproductive and even kill the horse. Surface reheating should take place after the core is rewarmed. The body core (organs, large blood vessels, central nervous system) can have a different temperature from surface temperature (muscles, fat, skin, hair coat). Core temperature in mature horses is 99.5-100.4° F, any temperature below 99.5° F is considered hypothermia. Normal core temperature is essential to preserve body functions, so the body maintains core temperature at the expense of surface or skin temperature. This is why veterinarians want a rectal temperature for a better idea of what is going on deeper in the body than the surface temperature.

The brain works to dissipate or conserve heat in the body at all times. Horses rarely suffer from hypothermia under normal conditions, and the rate of body temperature loss in a horse immersed in water or mud is not known. Obviously a fatter, larger horse will lose temperature more slowly than a thin, skinny, or smaller one. When core temperature continues to drop, animals shiver to help maintain core temperature, however, water conducts heat away from a body 25 times faster than in air. When a horse’s skin is in direct contact with cold water or mud, it will eventually become hypothermic in spite of the body’s efforts (shivering, etc).

Restoring Core Temperature

The main focus of rewarming should be to restore core temperature. A horse with a rewarmed and dry coat can be suffering from severe hypothermia worse than a horse with a wet and “cold” feeling coat. Core rewarming can be achieved most effectively through the administration of warmed fluids intravenously and a warm enema. Ideally, fluids should be warmed at a temperature of 104° F but no less than 91.4° F. Core rewarming can also be enhanced by a warmed fluid enema, and warm fluid administration per nasogastric intubation. Surface rewarming can be used after the core has been rewarmed. Forced hot air is more effective than blankets, and vigorous rubbing should never be used for surface rewarming.

Hypothermia and Death

The only definite criterion of death in hypothermia is failure to respond to core rewarming. The ultimate cause of death during hypothermia appears to be cardiac failure with asystole or ventricular fibrillation. Often this is caused by overstimulation, or failure to maintain and then rewarm the core temperature and occurs within 24 hours of extrication.

Please share this information with your local veterinarian and fire department. If you have experiences with hypothermia in horses, please share your story and tell us how the horse survived.

Disaster Preparedness and Planning: Part 2

REBECCA — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:06:00 GMT

Last time we discussed the reasons for making the effort at personal (people) preparedness so that you can assist your horse after you have taken care of your family first. So, assuming that you have done those things (if you haven’t, go back to last week, take the quiz, and get started), let’s move on to coming up with a disaster plan for your horse.

For the sake of this post, I will assume you have one horse. (For those of you with two or more, you will have a lot more work to do.) First, prioritize your evacuation status by having your horse trained to lead, load onto a trailer, and stand quietly when tied. These basic manners are good for all horses, but the easier you make it to handle and work with your horse, the easier it will be to move him, transport, and find him a place to stay in the event of a looming disaster.

This pony loads easily and is ready to evacuate in case of an emergency.

Photo: Rebecca Gimenez

The questions that I ask other people when they ask me what they can do to prepare for a disaster are:

“Does your horse load?"
"Does he load in the wind, rain, dark, and with people around? By himself? Without feed or treats? On strange trailers?”
"Do you board the horse?"

If you board, ask the owner of the facility and manager and staff to provide to you witha copy of their written disaster evacuation plan. You may have to pressure them for one. I have asked that question of many boarding facilities in my travels around the world and found very few that actually have one. Maybe they have one in their mind, but without writing it down and sharing it with their clients, it is not a plan. And without occasionally practicing, it is worthless.

Remember, you might not be there when a wildfire, blackout, chemical spill, or other disaster happens, and you probably have an expectation that the boarding facility will take care of your animal as you would your own. Is this addressed in your lease or board contract? The owner of the facility will normally be most concerned about their own animals first, yours could be the second or third trip out if you aren’t there to supervise. How can you address this concern? What is the priority for every animal at the barn and how can you make sure that there is a plan?

If you keep the horse on your own property, what is your disaster evacuation plan? Even if you keep your horse on pasture and don’t have a barn, you need to write down all the steps in your evacuation plan for your horse--from “hitch the trailer to the vehicle” and “shut down all electrical to barn and house” to “have fuel in the vehicle at all times.”

What steps in the plan are unique to your facility? Do you need to open or close the gate with a special transmitter? Who has keys to everything? Do stallions or certain horses have to be separated or need to be handled only by a certain person? Do you need to call anyone to notify them that their horse has been evacuated with yours? Do you have staff members that should be called so that they can conduct their portion of the plan?

A quick list of things that you should have available for your horse and your facility are as follows:

Have an up-to-date Coggins test, have a means of identifying your horse (photos, ankle bracelet or halter tags, freeze brands, microchips, EyeD, etc.), and ensure vaccinations are up to date. Health certificates are nice to have, but in an emergency you might not have these.
Evacuate before the winds reach 30 mph--your horse trailer is a box on wheels and can be overturned if high winds start to gust. Leave the horses outside emergencies that include high winds--collapse of the structure onto animals prevents them from escaping, but they are smart enough to find a safer place if given the chance.
Invest in a generator and fuel (and learn how to use it), and ensure you have adequate water sources for your animals before the disaster strikes. Animals drink a lot of water every day, and if you have to haul in water, make a plan where you will get it for them.
Ensure there is sufficient feed, hay, or other nutrition sources for the animals. If you have sufficient grass, that makes it easier. Don’t let escaped animals get to the feed, and use waterproof storage containers to prevent spoilage. It is nice to have 5-7 days of feed so that you don’t have to panic about feeding.
Have an equine first aid kit that is up to date with bandages, medications, and all other first-aid items that your veterinarian might suggest. These days it is easy to purchase an entire kit online and keep it handy for daily as well as emergency uses.
Have a set of hand tools that you might need for minor maintenance and repair.

Lastly, have an increased watch status when disasters loom that could threaten your facility and horses. For example “fueled truck and hitched trailer, all gear and equipment packed up in vehicle, parked in the driveway ready to load horses” could be an easy addition to the plan if you are within a few hours of the threat. Practicing your plan is the best way to show what works and doesn't work, and it may open your eyes to other holes in your plan for the future.

A few online resources:

AAEP Horse Disaster Planning Checklist.
AAEP Horse Emergency Checklist.
Red Cross Pets In Disaster.
ASPCA 24-hour Poison Control Hotline: (888) 426-4435 (a $65 consultation fee may be applied to your credit card).
Prepare / Plan / Stay Informed at ready.gov.

If you have any questions about creating your plan, please comment below.

Large Animal Rescue: Moving into 2013 and Beyond

REBECCA — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:11:00 GMT

Looking back at 2012 in the Large Animal Rescue arena of disasters and emergencies, we realize that interested parties and leaders in this effort have come a long way in reaching out to all aspects of the horse industry, emergency services, and veterinarians around the world. The year 2013 is expected to bring some significant steps forward in large animal rescue both in the United States and around the world.

Actual Rescues: Thanks to Google and other media search tools, there are many more actual rescues around the world that are populating the databases of large animal rescue technicians, veterinarians, and other emergency responders. Many of these are showing improvements in tactics, techniques, equipment and procedures being used to provide care to the horses trapped in various incidents. Several regional and local large animal rescue teams have celebrated five- and 10-year anniversaries, especially the Missouri Emergency Response team.

The Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue Facebook page is also sharing news and updates as they happen.If your veterinarian or local firefighter is not a member of this group, please recommend it to them. This year there have been numerous specialty and regional Facebook pages started for teams, evacuation, and resources.

Standards: A final draft of the Animal Issues Committee’s recommendations to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committee for NFPA 1670 is newly finalized and will be voted on in 2013 for inclusion to the NFPA standard. This is the first time that animal issues (large and small) have been recognized by the fire service rescue components. (Outside of a specific standard for barn fires addressed by NFPA 150, and for which I am on the technical committee).

In Canada, a group is pushing the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) to develop standards for horse trailers. It has been realized that there are no standards for horse trailer manufacturers anywhere in the world related to crash testing, crush testing, nor safety of components other than axles and tires. It is hope that the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers (NATM) in the United States will follow suit in 2013.

Conferences: For the first time, an update on the status of large animal rescue training globally was given to the International Symposium of the Animal Transportation Association conference in Vancouver, Canada. Additionally, the initial results of training and preparation for response to animal airplane emergencies with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and related air transportation safety organizations at Miami International Airport was reported.

At the Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) meeting in Indianapolis, Large Animal Rescue was featured for students.

For 2013, the Fifth International Conference on Large Animal Rescue was approved in 2012 and the site was selected as Roseworthy Campus of the University Veterinary School in South Australia for November 2-3, 2013. Interested attendees can obtain information from the executive director of Horse SA, Julie Fiedler at horsesa@horsesa.asn.au.

The last four international conferences were held in 1992 and 1993 (California), 2005 (New York) and 2008 (Lynhurst, UK). So many changes, technique improvement and equipment has been brought into use, and many scientific advances related to technical aspects of large animal rescue that it is high time for another conference to bring the leaders of these disciplines together to learn from each other, and to discuss the future.

Teaching and Training: The first course for future FEMA certification was piloted at Texas A&M University in 2012 by Dr. Cheryl Ellis and the group at UC Davis in California. For the first time, an instructor group associated with Parelli Natural Horsemanship (Kelly Sigler) is offering courses targeted at horse owners working with their own horses to introduce TLAER type skills and prevention techniques. After attending an Operations TLAER course in 2011, Kelly realized that dedicated horse owners needed a way to practice these aspects with their own horses. For information contact Kelly Sigler at kelly@kellysigler.com.

An online course with modules to introduce specific aspects of large animal rescue skills and techniques will be offered by the end of 2013 by JPA Associates and TLAER, Inc. National recognition of large animal rescue training was featured in a National Public Radio story.

Newsletter: The fifth full year of publication of the Large Animal Rescue Newsletter was reported by Michelle Staples, who has faithfully pulled information from around the world related to any aspect of rescue, heavy rescue, animal transportation, animal safety, and animal behavior into a newsletter for a monthly distribution. You can sign up by sending an email to her at michelle_staples@hughes.net.

Around the World: The very dedicated team headed by Jim Green in Hampshire Fire Service in the United Kingdom continues to improve their equipment and procedures, standards development, education outreach and are offering training around the UK to firefighters and veterinarians. Their reach extends into Europe and the Eurpean Union, where they are promulgating their success to other brigades.

For the third year in a row, large animal rescue classes were offered in Australia, and for the first time that included two Operations level TLAER courses. Numerous train-the-trainer courses have been offered for the State Emergency Services (SES) and rural or country fire services by a dedicated team of Australians that are working to spread improved information across their country. Contact is Mary Anne Leighton at maryanne-leighton@bigpond.com.

In South America, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is continuing to emphasize large animal rescue equipment, training and standards for emergency responders and is pushing the incorporation of large animal rescue into plans for disasters as well as emergencies.

Equipment: There are now “Randy the Horse Rescue Mannequin” rubber horses available as training equipment in the United States (eight horses), Australia (three horses), United Kingdom (eight horses), and Europe (12 horses). These mannequins are made in the United Kingdom as specialty equipment that lock to stand and are fully bendable, made to survive the difficult constraints of being thrown into the mud or overturned in a trailer, or turned upside down in a ditch for rescue practice. It is hoped that more departments, veterinary schools and organizations providing training will obtain these to make training more realistic in numerous scenarios. Development continues on several improvements to vertical lift slings, technical equipment and specialty tools for large animal rescue around the world and is expected to be featured at the 2013 International Conference.

See www.tlaer.org for more information. And here's to a happy and safe 2013!

Whatever You Do, Don't Panic

REBECCA — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:02:00 GMT

Have you considered impact your behavior and habits have on your horses?

Are they cranky, flighty and upset all the time? Or calm, happy and relaxed, even around strangers? The reason this is important is that there is quite a bit of research into ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior) that shows that horses can pick up subtle cues from your body language and voice. They pay attention to details that you aren't even aware of--the angle of your body, the position of your eyebrows, the pitch of your voice, the measured tread of your feet. In other words, they know when you are scared, when you are happy, when you are worried or angry. And this can result in their varied reactions to you on a Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue (TLAER) scene.

Why do we care about ethology in large animal technical rescue? Because we have realized over our many years of research, development and live rescue scene responses that the human factors can have a big impact on the success (or not) of a technical extrication. And we spend time in our courses sharing that information with firefighters and other emergency responders, so that they can improve their chances of catching that loose horse on the highway, or soothing one trapped in a septic tank until help arrives.

Best personal story: Many years ago--and against better judgment because I was tired--I turned Elektra and Aerial, two of my demonstration TLAER horses, out into a friend's brand new board fenced 20 acre pasture in Kentucky (along with Dexter, our training llama.) The next morning I called them up to eat - and nothing. No thundering hoofbeats as normally would happen. Worried, I walked thru the L-shaped pasture and around the corner sheltered by trees, I found them standing there together, calmly, with Elecktra having two legs in four wire fencing to her shoulders.

A big wad of the old fence had been pushed into a pile and left in the pasture! I called calmly to my partner to bring some wire cutters, walked slowly and calmly up to Elecktra, used a belt to make an emergency halter, petted and talked to her until he arrived, and we were able to easily sort out the wire from around her legs with the wire cutters. Not a single scratch! (But boy when she was finally loose she ran with the others and bucked and thundered to the barn!)

If your horse should catch his hoof in a hay feeder or get wrapped up in vines on a trail ride, how would you react? You have a bigger brain and the ability to control your thoughts and emotions better than the horse. The horse is a prey animal--he doesn't think first - he usually just reacts. If his human also reacts in a frantic or panicky manner, the horse will predictably respond with even greater fear.

Fear is an amazing emotion in both humans and animals--it makes us physically stronger than normal as adrenaline/epinephrine hormones flood into the bloodstream and bind to muscle receptors - allowing them to become more powerful for a fleeting time. Additionally, it makes us less able to perceive pain, meaning that when we hurt ourselves, we can't feel it as well. That happens in the horse as well. And unfortunately when it does finally feel pain, pain makes it more fearful and panicky. All good reasons to try to prevent this vicious cycle from beginning in the first place!

These situations are where all your prior prevention strategies involved with desensitization of your horse will pay off. Owners that make the effort to get their horses used to having ropes, sticks, whips and even umbrellas around their bodies and legs, and taught their horses to be calm and accepting of having their feet and legs handled can expect a better result in these types of scenarios. Teaching your horse to lower his head, relax and turn off the flight reaction is the basis of good horsemanship, here is a example.

How can you learn to react more calmly to a scenario where the animal has a good chance of being severely injured? First, breath. Do not scream, do not panic, do not start running around doing "something." Stop long enough to survey the situation and assess the horse's body position and attitude. Sometimes they will be standing there just trying to figure out what the heck happened? You might be able to pet him, use a calm voice, and extricate his foot for him. Do you have a knife to cut vines that might get caught around him on a trail ride? (Every horseman and horsewoman should have a knife - in my humble opinion.) Can you stand in a safe position to use it without scaring him or cutting yourself?

Temporary and dangerous entrapments of hooves, legs and heads happen quite often with horses - out of curiosity or just plain not knowing something in there. They stick them into the most ridiculous places after grass, grain, or playing with a buddy. Having a level head and doing some prior preparation with your horses can pay off many years later.

What kinds of dangerous scenarios have your horses gotten into and how did it play out? Was the horse calm or dangerously panicky? Please share your experiences with us here on this blog. We all learn from each others' successes and failures.

What Do I Do with This Dead Horse? Part 2

REBECCA — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:15:00 GMT

Last week we discussed the general subject of disposal of equines--a sad and sometimes frustrating job for any horse person. This week we will look at the scene and think about some of the challenges of physically dealing with 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of dead horse to be disposed of before it bloats, rots, and generally becomes even more frustrating to manage. Some situations are far more difficult to deal with than others.

What do you do if you are an emergency manager for a county and suddenly someone calls you and says "Hey, there was a trailer accident on the interstate this afternoon and there are two dead horses laying on the side of the road. What do we do with them?" Most emergency managers are not horse people or tied into the equine community--are they going to be aware of the issues involved in carcass removal, disposal, and safety? They may need a resource list to be provided of landfills, renderers, and dead animal equipment operators for your community.

If you had a horse die trapped in a tree after a flood or it fell off a cliff on a trail ride, how would you handle these issues? What if you live in Minnesota and a horse dies when it is -12 degrees F in January? Is it a problem to wait until the ground thaws out to bury it? What questions should you ask yourself before this happens so that you can more professionally and rationally deal with the situation?

First of all, call a local backhoe operator, emergency equine ambulance, or dead-animal rendering company. This is a good phone number to have available at all times, in case your or a friend's horse dies you want to be able to easily access these types of information. Make sure you know how much they charge, what their services actually entail, and think about how much money you can budget to have your horse disposed of in a manner that makes you feel better about the loss.

Then, assess the scene and decide what equipment and resources you might need to move it. For example, is the carcass easily accessible? On the side of the road in the grass, this is easy. If it's trapped in a tree, off a cliff, or down in a neighbor's well--that presents a bunch more challenges. How can you get to it? Do you need a harness and climber's rope, a 4x4 ATV, or a skidsteer? Is the animal dead inside of a stall, trailer, or other confined space that requires use of a sked to pull it out?

Find someone to support you through this. Although it might be possible to pull the horse out of a well with a tractor and a chain around the legs that is not a scene that most owners, children, and friends that knew the horse in life want to see. Who do you know that can come to assist you with this process? Can you take your kids to see the animal, get a lock of the horses' mane or tail, say your goodbyes, and have someone else take care of the burial or transport arrangements?

Next, think about how are you going to move the carcass from its location to burial, rendering, composting, etc? In a future blog I will discuss equine ambulance services in detail, which in many cases can be hired to remove the body of horses. Some of them utilize TLAER techniques for handling the scene (i.e., providing a simple method of wrapping up a necropsied animal, using a Rescue Glide to remove the animal, moving it into a trailer for transport, etc.). More common is to use a tractor or backhoe to lift or shift the animal into a hole that has been dug for that purpose, or onto a trailer for transport.

No one likes to think about the death of their animals, but having a plan, resources, and people to turn to in these types of situations can make it much more palatable and allow you to concentrate on your wonderful memories with your horse, instead of bad last ones.

What are your ideas, experiences and stories related to moving dead horses--morbidly funny, sad, moving, inspiring, or entertaining? We would love to hear them. That is what this blog is all about.