Cast horse

D

daughter's groom

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After nearly 50 years of messing about with horses, today I had my first experience of a cast horse. The YO and I heard some banging from one of the boxes and when we went to investigate we found her 3yo IDx cast in her box. . She was already becoming distressed, sweating and breathing quickly and shallowly, but had the good sense to lie still. The YO made some loops with padded girths and ropes which she attached to the fore and hind leg nearest the ground. Together we were able to pull her over and she was soon back on her feet with no damage done. Luckily the YO had had experience of this and knew what to do but we were rather pleased with ourselves as we are both under 5ft 4in, under 10 stone and around 60 years old and the mare is no lightweight!! I was surprised that a potential crisis worked out so well. Everyone stayed calm, not least the mare, and the situation was dealt with clamly and efficiently. It's true what they say about horses........you never stop learning about them.
 
Scary situation. It may be worth mentioning that if a horse is down for several hours, it could prove fatal, especially if it's older. Horses are not designed to lay down for long periods and their vital organs will eventually shut down. I learned this several years ago, when this happened to an elderly Highland we had on loan. Despite the best efforts of several people and the fire service, she had to put be pts the next morning. I also looked after an elderly horse this year, who kept getting cast every time he rolled on being turned out. We decided the safest thing was to keep him out 24/7 and it did the trick as it kept him from stiffening up.
 
Thanks for your input. I am aware of this problem with horses being down. Luckily the mare was only down for aout 10-15 mins as we were on hand.Hope your Highland has a long and happy old age.
 
I always keep a padded webbing lung rein at the stable for just such an emergency, only had to use it once or twice, I learned about this when a racehorse flipped upside down in to a ditch, it pays to keep away from those hooves!
 
MrsD123 said:
I always keep a padded webbing lung rein at the stable for just such an emergency, only had to use it once or twice, I learned about this when a racehorse flipped upside down in to a ditch, it pays to keep away from those hooves!
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Yes, lunge line is definitely the thing in these scary situations. I used to work at a riding school and we had a few horses get cast. Always best to be as far away from the hooves as possible, in case they do panic and start flailing their legs about.

What a scary situation for you op, I'm glad it all worked out ok :)
 
Anyone care to explain in more detail, how you do it? (Assist a cast horse).
I'd like to know, for future reference (hopefully I'll never need to, but to know what do to is always good).
 
Evie91 said:
Anyone care to explain in more detail, how you do it? (Assist a cast horse).
I'd like to know, for future reference (hopefully I'll never need to, but to know what do to is always good).
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It's not that easy to explain - because what you do depends on all sorts of things - how horse is cast, how many people available, how sensible the horse is - does he just lie there or does he panic, and of course how big/heavy he is.

1st rule is don't panic and rush in - having your head kicked in doesn't help either of you! Having big Irish draughts, I've had to do it on my own a number of times and it's hard work. Sometimes it's get the head and pull, sometimes it's get the lunge line around a hind leg and pull! And sometimes you get lucky - ANY effort on your part makes the horse ry and succeed.
 
As I understand it, the classic way is to to loop a line round the hind leg which is next to the ground [you are looking at the back of the horse], you are standing a horse width away from the horse and level with the belly/withers/girthline so mid horse, you then pull the leg towards you so the the whole horse rolls towards you. Not sure if this is "correct method", but it does work if horse is quiet and is very close to wall.
It may be that you can pull the head of the horse including the shoulders so that he will be far enough away from the wall to get up unaided. Headcollar essential.
It really is much safer to get someone not physically involved to monitor the situation, in the worse case scenario that you are alone, I would put on all the safety gear, have mobile handy [999] and [ maybe] leave the stable door open but the yard gates closed. This is not ideal, best to get someone, even a random non horsey person. They are in no danger if they are on the outside of the stable with the door closed.
 
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My big 18hh ID used to get cast on a regular basis and having had to rescue him once on my own and serval times with the help of others on the yard we invested in the old fashioned but very effective anti cast roller. When the silly sod is in he wears it and so long as I don’t give him and extra deep bed he can’t/wont roll over. Rescuing him on my own had to be the scariest things I have ever down. But the horse knew I was helping him and lay still and did not flail about while I carefully put lunge lines on the lower legs and I was very lucky once I started to pull on the lines he manage to get his legs into the right place on the wall to kick on over and was back on his feet. Working in a 14’x14’ stable with such a large horse was worrying but it worked.
 
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