horse was cast this morning - advice please?

tiggipop

tiggipop

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well as title.. fairly early (5 am) this morning I heard a crash banging noise coming from the barn.. opened window to "check" and yes ..definitely something going on, so grabbed clothes, phone and shoes and ran over.

almighty noise coming from one stable and when I got there the horse was stuck.. lying on his side but not able to get up as back legs were sliding up wall. his breathing was not "right" (probably cos he was struggling and in a bit of a panic).. am on my own here so thought it best to phone vet as I hoped they would be experienced in dealing with this and also be able to check him over once he was standing.

phoned vets - through to emergency line - told lady horse was cast and that his breathing was strained. she said she would contact the on call vet who would call me within 10 minutes.

anyhow.. vet did call and ask what the problem was.. I explained horse cast... she said how long.. I said about 20 mins to half an hour.... vet then asked what I wanted her to do .... did I want her to come and have a look at the cast? I was a little confused and said that the horse was in difficulty and I thought the vet would be the one to help / advise me... she then asked how long he had been WEARING THE CAST and why had I phoned the emergency line..
anyhow I was getting more and more worried about my boy and said to the vet I was concerned she had no idea what I was talking about so I was going to call the vet (main number) again. I spoke to the receptionist and explained .. she said she would call the vet back and tell her what "cast" meant.

to cut a long story short, as soon as I went into the stable with my boy he stopped stuggling and lay still, he tried once or twice to free himself then rested and after what seemed ages he managed to get some leverage with his front legs and pushed himself away from the wall and stood up. NEVER have I been so relieved..

sorry this is so long..

what is the best thing to do when horse is cast.. as I said I am here alone.

thanks in advance for any advice.
 
If you can get lunge lines or ropes around the legs and try to pull the horse back over the right side. It's better when there's two of you and you need to be careful not to get hurt from flailing legs. Most horses manage to sort themselves out on there own if you go in stable as they tend to calm down with you there.
I'm shocked that the vet didn't know about cast horses or be able to give you any advice over the phone. Hope your horse is ok
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care/horse-care-tips/coping-with-a-cast-horse/
 
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Ive had it a few times whilst im on my own i just hold on to a front or back leg that is against the wall and pull the horse away from the wall never had any problems with legs frayling at me. Or you could tie a lead rope around a leg and pull.
 
A rope round the pastern of the hind leg underneath, if you can get the angle right a few tugs should be enough to help move the horse into a position it can get up from, being alone make sure you are in a safe position but it is possible to move even a big horse if you look at it logically to see which part you need to move to allow them to get away from the wall enough to get up more easily, I had a big horse that got cast regularly even managing to do so in an indoor school he seemed to always roll towards a wall, so plenty of practice over the years.
I am rather shocked that the vet on call had no idea what you meant, it is fairly basic equine knowledge, it would worry me that she could not deal with a real emergency in the middle of the night, I would contact someone and mention it not assume that the receptionist has done so.
 
I have found a few horses like this (including my young colt in a HUGE barn). I do as Ameeyal says, they come over quite easily even big horses. Just watch the legs in case they thrash out, also once the halfway point step backwards smartly to give them room to get up. usually just loop the lead ropes round the pasterns.

Quite frigthening though the first time you see it - especially at 5am!
 
If he starts to make a habit of it, webbing strops are a very useful piece of kit to have around - especially the ones with loops that are large enough to slide straight over their feet. http://www.safetyliftingear.com/pro...2mtr/web3xlg?gclid=CMXGm6fuwsICFWSWtAodTyQA1Q
Stable bars/tie rings make it even easier for one person to pull them back over - pull the rope through the bars/ring on the opposite wall, and it's easier to to get a steady pull going.
 
My big horse used to get cast regularly. He was a very sensible old fellow and after a few crashes and bangs and knowing he could not get back would wait and when he herd people on the yard would bang about. He would let you put lunge lines on to the lower legs and normally with 2 people we could get him back over. I did manage it once on my own the horse did help thank goodness as at 18.1hh he is very hard to get over. He now always wears an anit cast roller when stabled. He can still get cast if his bed is too deep. This is what he wears http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/1910...3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108 Whilst it is deemed to be old fashioned and you would be amazed at the amount of people who ask what he is wearing it works.
 
thank you to everyone who has replied..

scarily enough it is a equine vet practice.. supposed to be one of the best (if not the best) in this area BUT this is the second time I have ended up feeling "scared" for my horses. I think it was a young vet with English not her first language who I spoke to BUT this does not excuse the situation.. I will be making a call / e mail to the practice on Monday.

the horse is a rather large 17hh (well I stopped measuring him at that height) Friesian so is quite big and chunky (& quite clumsy).. he wasn't tight up to the wall .. in fact I did wonder why he could not free himself.. (but he definitely couldn't - probably panicky )
I did think about putting something on his legs and pulling but was also aware that its only my horses here so no one would have turned up and seen if I had been hurt in his stable!

he seems ok - thoroughly checked him over - and have just had a nice little pootle in the school.

thanks again for replying

x
 
Years ago a colleague told me their Highland used to get cast and that the answer was to sit on his head!
Fine if he wasn't flailing his front feet around too much I suppose and it gives them the leverage to help them get over.
Personally I would do as the others have suggested ,lunge line round lower leg if you can.
If he makes a habit of getting cast invest in an anti cast roller, we used to make them but not the call for them so much now which is a shame as they do help stop them getting cast.
Nice curved high banks in the stable bedding too helps.
 
The only time we took a call out of hours for a cast horse was because it had fractured a limb. On the other hand we had a client whose horse had a cast on its leg which she kept turning out so therefore it kept breaking its cast and she would ring and say " what do I do?!" We hospitalised it in the end as it was easier. Having worked with interns whose first language isn't English it was sometimes very hard work trying to explain to them what it was that was wrong or what we needed.
I suspect having been woken from her sleep ( it was the nurses job to care for inpatients and do all nightly obs and only got vets/ interns up if we needed them ) she has simply mistaken what the phone lady was telling her a cast horse and a horse with a cast sound very similar when rudely awoken by a pager screaming in your ear at an unearthly hour in the morning particularly if she's worked the previous day and possibly could have only been in bed a couple of hrs from dealing with an emergency. Ive been there and we've had those calls.
 
BE CAREFUL as it is very easy to get hurt by flailing back legs especially as the horse becomes in a position that it can use its rear end again.

A lunge line is the best thing to use to help flip the horse over.

Fold the line in half and carefully loop over the leg furthest away, stand well clear and pull hard to roll the horse back over.

No knots to secure the line otherwise you may end up with a panicking horse with a rope around its leg.

To prevent your horse getting cast again invest in a good anti cast roller. Bank up the walls large, deep and thick so your horse can't roll into the wall.
 
My young horse gets cast very violently and has damaged his neck in doing so. He now lives out pretty much 24/7 to prevent this. He can get cast with an anti cast roller - be very careful with these, they can damage the horse's back.

I would be VERY unhappy with any veterinary practice who were unable to provide staff who spoke and understood English and I would change practice and tell them why
 
Lots of good advise here but just wanted to add - if dealing with a cast horse it is a really wise idea to wear a riding hat!
 
We used to have one person sit on the head if a horse was a bit panicky. For some reason if the head is immobilised the horse stops any panic reaction and will stay still enough for the second person to rope the legs. Always wear a hat and the person sitting on the head gets off as soon as the rope or lunge line is secured and before tension is applied. Lunge lines or webbing with a broader surface area are better than ropes which can cause friction burns.

This was in the good old days though and may be a procedure frowned on by vets today....?
 
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