Emergency Care

We Are Here for You in Any Equine Emergency: 7 Days a Week, 24 Hours a Day

We pride ourselves in providing our clients with extremely reliable emergency services. Our team is equipped to handle your horse emergency on the farm or at our hospital.  Contact us if you have an equine emergency.

The best way to handle any emergency is to be prepared. We strongly recommend that all horse owners maintain a first aid kit for potential emergencies such as colic, lameness, foot injuries, and wounds.

Click here for our First Aid Kit List

Click here for our Emergency Poster

In the face of an emergency please assess your horse’s condition prior to calling. The information you provide will enable our team to be prepared and provide prompt and efficient service.

Below are some indications that your horse may require emergency veterinary attention:

• Colic—Indications your horse maybe colicking include pawing the ground, curling their upper lip, inappropriate sweating, looking at their side, urinating small amounts several times or stretching out, lying down, and rolling. If possible take your horse’s temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate. It may be advisable to walk your horse until the veterinarian arrives.
• Lacerations—Cuts or open wounds are best treated as quickly as possible. Ideally try and identify the location of the wound, the size of the wound, and the horses overall condition. If you see continuous bleeding please apply direct pressure, otherwise attempt to protect the wound until the veterinarian arrives.
• Sudden lameness—Signs include your horse not able to bear weight on one or more legs, unwillingness to move, or appears very tender footed. It important not to move the horse and to look for obvious swelling, heat, pain to the touch, or digital pulses in the affected leg(s). Look at your horse’s foot for nails or other foreign objects penetrating into the sole, frog or heel bulbs. If you find a nail, do NOT remove it unless directed by the veterinarian.
• Not eating—You may observe your horse dropping feed, chewing abnormally, not finishing their feed normally, drooling excessively, or they have a foul odor coming from their mouth. There are several indications for these clinical signs that would require emergency care.
• Nasal discharge—Evaluate the character of nasal discharge. Look for color: clear, white, red, green or yellow. Determine if the discharge has a bad smell or if it looks like feed material mixed with saliva. Observe if its from both nostrils or just one nostril, if your horse has a cough, and if your horse appears distressed. Please take your horse’s temperature, remove all feed if your horse appears choked and contact a veterinarian immediately.
•  Eye Trauma—Signs can include your horse’s upper and/or lower eyelids being swollen, tears or discharge coming from the eye, or squinting. Place a fly mask on your horse until a veterinarian arrives.
• Sudden leg swelling—While your horse may or may not appear lame, one or more legs may have become swollen. Be sure to take your horse’s temperature, feel the limb for heat, assess if the limb is painful to the touch, and look for scabs or cuts on the swollen leg.
• Allergic reaction— Signs may include: Hives, large areas of swelling on the body, swollen nose, or swollen eyes.

The detailed history and description of your horses condition you provide to the doctor is essential information to determine the urgency, the care you can provide until a veterinarian is able to examine your horse, the equipment and supplies required to treat your horse, the most appropriate location to treat your horse, and a rough estimate on cost. In some instances, we will determine that it is necessary and most appropriate to treat your horse in our hospital or at your farm.

Normal Vital Signs