Horse Health - Vital Signs

This weekend Linda's beautiful draft mare had colic. Colic is a horseman's nightmare. Linda said it is a miracle her horse survived. How do you recognise the symptoms? Many times it is just noticing subtle symptoms.
- your horse is not eating
- your horse ate but is not nibbling up the remainder of the hay
- your horse is laying down and wont get up
- your horse is reluctant to work under saddle
- your horse is standing but stretching out - parked out stance
- your horse is turning his head and looking at his side
- your horse is pawing

Now what? Is my horse in distress?
1) NORMAL HEART RATE =36-42 BEATS PER MINUTE. At rest, slide your index and middle fingers along the inside edge of the cheek usually the front 1/3 you will find a large pencil size vein which you can feel the heart rate. Look at your watch for 15 seconds while you count how many beats there are in 15 sec. Then multiply by 4. Or for a fidgety horse: count the number of beats in 6 sec and multiply by 10 for an approximation. If it is elevated it is a good sign the horse is in distress. If the Vet. administers pain relief and the HR does not go back down below 80 BPM it is a sign surgery is possibly needed. Prolonged HR 80-110 is difficult to sustain.
2) NORMAL RESPIRATION RATE =8-12 breaths/minute.
Count the number of times you feel the horses breath on your arm. Or count the number of times the nostrils flare out in 15 sec and multiply by 4.
3) Gut sounds: Hearing gut sounds is normal. No gut sounds is not a good sign when combined with other symptoms. You can simply up your ear up on your horses side just in front of his hip. Listen to both sides. Listen now to see what normal sounds are. Sometimes they can have a lot of gut sounds which is too much gas = "Gas colic"
4) Temperature: Normal is 99-101 degrees F : Lift up the tail and insert the thermometer into the rectum. Tie dental floss on the end before you insert it or, keep you fingers holding it to avoid having it fall out or go too far in. Never force it in to avoid damaging the mucosa.
5) Check for Digital pulses: Normally when you run your fingers around the inside and outside of the back of the fetlock you should not feel a beating pulse. Check you horse now because some horses have a digital pulse. Most do not. If you feel a digital pulse on a horse that normally does not have one may be a significant symptom. Especially after a bout of colic you would want to monitor this as it might indicate founder.
6) Capillary refill less than 2 seconds. Check their gums. Just above the top teeth on the side, press your thumb and take it away. Count the times it takes to get pink again. This is capillary refill time. If they are in distress it will take longer than 2 seconds to refill. Or if the gums are blue you are in trouble
7) Sweating: Often they will sweat in an unusual area, or be sweating but have not done any work.

This last weekend Linda's mares vital signs were: Heart rate 96, Respiratory rate 36. Temp 103,
stretching, laying down, looking at her side. No gut sounds. No digital pulse, light sweating above her eye, behind the ear and by her flank.
Just yesterday I noticed my mare not finishing her hay. She was standing alone under the tree. This is not normal. I pulled her out. Her HR was 48, Resp rate 20. Slight gut sounds on both sides, reluctance to walk forward. I put her in the round pen and made her walk for 20 minutes.
After 10 minutes she started trotting on her own. I put her back in her pen and she was looking for hay wisps to snorkel down. She was fine the remainder of the day. A tummy ache which was perhaps some gas. Stimulating the guts by moving her around probably helped prevent a more
sever incident.
A month later 2/23 one of my geldings was not eating his lunch. Pawing looking to lay down, Resp Rate like he was galloping at 88/min. HR 56. No gut sounds. I started walking him. Called the Vet and by the time he arrived an hour after I found him he was better. My Vet said, That is great, thank your lucky stars because it can go the other way. He got some Banamine.
Interesting as I have not had a colic episode in years and now 2 in a months time.

These vital signs are valuable information to give your veterinarian. Don't delay in calling your vet.