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If you own a horse there are certain health issues you need to know to keep your horse in top condition. These are that you need to learn to take your horse’s vital signs, how to prevent lameness, deworming, fly control and how to prevent colic in your horse.
When taking a horse’s vital signs you should be concerned with their respiration rate, pulse and temperture. A vet can show you how to do these. Respiration can be done by watching the rise and fall of the horse’s area between the ribs and thighs and then counting the number of breaths per minute.
Your horse’s pulse can be found at the inside of the lower jawbone, inside of the knee and behind the left elbow. A horse’s pulse rate will be between 32 beats per minute when the horse is at rest and and after being exercised it can be more than 100 beats per minute.
A normal temperature of a horse is between 98 to 101 degrees. If your horse has a higher temperature than 102 this indicates that there’s a problem. Knowing the status of all of these vital signs will help your vet determine the severity of the health problem with your horse.
To prevent infection in your horse you should keep your horse’s stall clean. Most hoof problems are a result from a puncture wound. If this happens what you should do to your horse are. You should soak the hoof in Epson Salt which will help keep the infection down. If this doesn’t work you may have to have the vet come out and make a hole in the wound to allow the wound to drain.
Lameness in a horse can also result after exercising the horse. These usually end up being a sprain or fracture. If your horse has a sprain or fracture you should call the vet because not setting the joints right can end up with the horse having long term damage to its joints.
You should have your vet come and deworm your horse four times a year. You should also keep accorate records of this and any other vaccination your horse is given.
Fly control is another big health factor with your horse because flies carry alot of diseases as well as, the transmission of parasites. Keeping your horse’s stall and stable clean will help with this problem because this will help prevent the multiplying of these flies. When using sprays and repellents you should be careful using these because some horse’s are allergic to these repellents.
Colic is also another very serious health condition of horses. It’s the number one killer of adult horses. Colic is a pain in the horse’s abdomen which is caused by a blockege of blood vessels being supplied to the intestines. Recognizing certain systems in your horse will help you determine colic in your horse. These signs are if your horse has colic they will have abdominal pain so they will be doing different positions to try to reduce the pain. A horse who has colic may keep biting at the abdominal if their in pain, sweating and be having abnormal abdominal sounds. If you notice any of these signs call the vet immediately because this could determine the life or death of your horse. If you feel your horse has colic you should keep the horse upright and the walk the horse around until the vet arrives.
You should also make up a first aid kit. The kit should contain such items as bandages to cover up wounds, medications to prevent infection of minor wounds, scissors to remove hair from wounds, a clean bucket, a halter, a hoof pick, thermometer and tape.
Learning how to watch for signs of health problems in your horse will help keep your horse in good condition, which in turn will keep your horse in top condition and keep you enjoying them for a long time.
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