Featured Article (August 2005)

Hurricane And Disaster Preparedness For Your Horses Part Two : After the Storm

Assessing your animals

As soon as it is safe to leave your shelter and check on your horses, give them all a good "once over." Causes for concern include depression, colic signs, bleeding, incoordination/staggering, disorientation, deep punctures/lacerations (especially those that are very near or over joints), and severe lameness. Check their gums and vital signs, and examine all limbs and feet closely.

If you find serious injuries or conditions, place one sign (previously described in part one) at the entrance to your property and the other sign in a clearing so that it can be seen by surveillance aircraft. If you are able to get out, you may travel to one of the staging areas to register your problem and find a veterinarian to assist you.

Do not turn the main circuit breaker back on until you know that the electrical system of your barn is intact. If in doubt, leave it off until you can have the system evaluated.

What if your horse is missing?

If you cannot find your horse(s), contact your local animal control officer. You may need to go to the animal staging area to locate these individuals. Be able to identify and prove ownership of your horse(s) once it/they have been found.

If you have found someone else’s horse(s), put them in as safe an area as possible. It is advisable not to turn them out with your own horses for several reasons: one, you may not know the horses’ disease or vaccination history, and you may be exposing your horses to disease; two, there may be an increased risk of injury due to fighting, playing, and/or chasing as the new horses interact with your herd. Document each horse’s sex, color, markings, and any other identifying characteristics, and contact the animal control officer. If it is possible to take a picture of each horse, do so and provide the picture(s) to the officer.

Check your turnout areas

Your horses may be at the same or higher risk of getting injured after the storm as they were during the storm due to the persistence of debris. DO NOT turn your horses out until you have inspected the area. Check the fence line for damaged or destroyed fencing. Check the grass for debris, especially metal and nails. If the grass is tall, it will be harder to find debris that can cause lacerations and punctures.

Look for any down power lines, and immediately restrict access to the area.

If you have any red maple trees near your pasture, make sure that there are no fallen branches in the pasture or within reach of your horses. Even a few wilted leaves can be very toxic to horses, and cause potentially fatal anemia and kidney damage.

Remember that not just horses will seek higher ground when there is flooding; wild animals, fire ants, and snakes will also seek high ground. Look for these dangers and address them accordingly.

Check your water supply

Dehydration due to inadequate water access increases the risk of colic, kidney disease, and death. Make sure that you still have access to water (hopefully, you have already been prepared by installing a hand pump on your well and storing water prior to the hurricane season). Check all buckets and troughs for contamination. If you need to purify water for drinking, add 2 drops of chlorine bleach to each quart of water and let it stand for 30 minutes.

Check your horse’s legs and feet frequently

Regardless of how diligent you may be at removing debris from your barn and field, there is always a chance that you will miss some of it. Check your horse’s feet and legs at least once daily for any punctures or cuts.

Helping people get to you

Use the previously made signs, place one at the entrance to your property and one in a clearing as previously described. If you need veterinary assistance, you may also wish to make an additional sign that says "Vet needed—horses" and put it at the main road to signal to others that you need help. Remember to use contrasting colors to enhance visibility of the sign.

Make sure that there are no electric lines nearby, and begin clearing your driveway and road so that help can get to you. Hopefully, you’ll have organized your neighborhood so that you can begin clearing the road as a group.

Basic first aid

These recommendations are intended to allow you to initially assess and manage common problems until a veterinarian arrives.

Punctures:

Try to contact a veterinarian before you remove any puncturing objects, because the location of the puncture may determine if it is best to remove the object or leave it in place. If the offending object is still in place and you intend to remove it, mark it at skin level with something (so the veterinarian will know how deep it is) and try to document or remember the angle at which it passed. It may be wise not to remove any objects puncturing the chest or abdomen, as the object may be the only thing that keeps the lung from collapsing or the gut from coming out of the hole.

If the foot is punctured with a nail, it may be best to leave it in place so that the veterinarian can x-ray the foot to determine how deep the nail passed and what structures (joint, navicular bone, etc.) may be involved; that is, assuming that the veterinarian has any electrical power to take an x-ray of the foot). If you feel that you cannot leave it in the foot, mark the nail at the level of the entry point, circle the entry point with a marker or paint (mark it somehow), and make sure to remember the angle at which it passed into the foot. Alternatively, mark a circle around the nail and cut it off level with the entry point so that the veterinarian can still assess the wound with the nail in place.

Any puncture directly into or over a joint or tendon sheath is cause for serious concern due to the high risk of join infection, which can be permanently crippling or even fatal. Mark the object before removal, clean the wound as well as possible, and place a clean bandage. It is important to note that a horse with an infected joint may not be very lame if the joint is draining out the wound. When the wound seals over, the lameness then becomes severe as pressure builds up in the joint.

Lacerations/cuts:

If a leg wound is bleeding, clean it and apply a pressure wrap and reevaluate the wound in 1-2 hours. If it continues to bleed through the bandage, you may need to apply a tourniquet (you can use a strip of bicycle inner tube rubber for this). If you have a hemostatic clamp available and you can see a large vessel that is actively bleeding, you can attempt to clamp the vessel. Leave the clamp in place for 20-30 minutes or longer. When you clean the wound again, be careful, or you may dislodge the clot and resume bleeding.

Superficial cuts on the body and legs (ones that do not completely cut through the skin) can be cleaned gently and treated with a topical antibiotic ointment such as nitrofurazone or Nolvasan® ointment.

As with puncture wounds, any lacerations over or near joints or tendon sheaths are cause for serious concern, and should be treated as described above for puncture wounds. Similarly, any eyelid lacerations may be accompanied by damage to the eye, and should be taken seriously. Do NOT cut off any flaps of tissue or skin without being told to do so by a veterinarian, especially eyelid flaps.

Colic:

Try to assess your horse’s gums and heart rate so that you can inform the veterinarian. Do not feed your horse anything (including hay, feed, and grass) while it is demonstrating signs of colic. If available, give Banamine® at the dose recommended by the veterinarian, and note what time it was given. You can walk your horse, but it is important that you do not get your horse fatigued or dehydrated by walking it too much. Try to get a veterinarian to assess your horse as soon as possible.

Incoordination/staggering:

This often indicates a nervous system problem, and may be due to head, neck, or back trauma. Other causes include West Nile Virus infection, Equine herpesvirus type 1 infection, Eastern Encephalitis, Western Encephalitis, and Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, among others. There is not often much you can do in this type of situation other than give a dose of bute or Banamine®, put the horse in an area where they are least likely to be injured if they fall, and try not to get yourself hurt. These horses can pose serious threat of injury to themselves and you if they are severely affected. Neurologic signs accompanied by bleeding from the ears, mouth, and/or nose often indicates severe head trauma. Immediate veterinary attention is necessary, but may not be successful.

Rain rot (Rain scald, dermatophilosis):

Although this is not usually a life-threatening problem, it is common after hurricanes due to the persistent wet weather and soaked haircoat and skin. If your horse develops this problem, you will observe a rough haircoat, crusts, and scabs. When the affected hair is pulled, it comes out in clumps that often resembles a paintbrush. Although there are many treatments, one of the simplest ones involves removing all the crusts and scabs with a stiff brush or your fingernails, washing the area thoroughly, and scrubbing the affected area with povidone-iodine (Betadine®) scrub. Leave the soapy scrub on the skin for 5-10 minutes, then wash it off thoroughly and dry the area with a clean towel. This condition is contagious to other horses, so do not use the same brushes, equipment, tack, or towels on other horses or unaffected areas of the same horse. If it is on the legs, you can apply a diaper rash ointment (like Desitin®) to the area after you have thoroughly dried it in order to keep the skin dry and protected.

Thrush:

This is also a common problem after hurricanes due to persistently wet ground/stalls and the increased time that horses may be confined in stalls. There are many commercial products available, or you can use a dilute bleach solution (1 part bleach to 3 or 4 parts water) and spray it on the bottom of the foot and in the sulci (crevices) of the frog daily or several times daily.

With adequate preparation, the severity of illnesses and injuries during and after disasters can be reduced. Don’t wait until it’s too late – start early, and make plans in the hope that you will never need to implement them.