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naza

naza

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Horsey first aid box.?
Am in the process of moving the horses to home, having always been on livery yards so just always relied on them I guess so I am now thinking that I should have some essentials at home just in case.
So tell me what have you got/your must haves?
 
Dressings, roll of elastoplast, roll of surgical tape, roll of duck tape, baby nappies, vet wrap, bag of cotton wool, scissors, epsom salts, salt, antiseptic cream or spray, gamgee roll.
 
I used to have an amazing one after years working in care but now mine is shockingly empty at the moment due to the borrowers having been at it for months. The absolute essentials are there though :) Scissors in a packet, big dressing pads, styptic powder, tape, eye wash, saline water, chlorhexidine (a new addition, better than creams) and gamgee still in the packaging (goes in the bin after opening.)
 
Incidentally the horse first aid box works equally well for humans. My mum collided heads with one or the horses and the head collar split open her forehead. She looked fantastic walking into A&E with a big dressing, a wad of cotton wool and .... scarlet vet-wrap.
 
Hospitals now use coloured vet wrap.
My Mum broke her wrist last autumn and was offered a choice of colours for her pot.
 
Vetwrap, sudocrem, honeyheal, animalintex, cotton wool, scissors, gloves, hypocare, aloe Vera gel, some
Steroid cream, bandages, vets details in case I am not around. They are at home so human kit in the house!
 
thermometer
I tend to use povidone iodine rather than hibiscrub as find it less dying
Cotton wool
scissors
some non stick dressings, various tape and bandages
poultice pads
vetwrap
intrasite gel or similar
clean pot for washing wounds etc
tweezers
also some plasters and painkillers for hoomins!
 
Not technically first aid but a shoe removal kit is a god send if you have shod horses. You might go 30 years without using it but I bet you the day you do you'll be bloody glad it's there! Standard domestic garages/toolboxes don't seem to have similar equipment you can just 'borrow'.
Mum also has wire cutters which have been out numerous times because she has a pony who just has to dream up wire and he's stuck in it! Usually under his shoe- see item 1! Oh and a head torch is useful for trying to hold leg, change poultice while your horses belly blocks the stable light.
 
I feel like I have a million things in mine yet when my horse needs treatment the one thing I really need, I don't have! Yesterday it was duct tape. I've never had to use it on her before and had forgotten to get some to add to the box, then yesterday she was hopping lame, farrier came and diagnosed a very soft foot and to soak gamgee in iodine and vet wrap onto her foot, then a carrier bag and duct tape. I had everything except the dust tape! With her being field kept with no stable access the duct tape was quite necessary!

So now my first aid box consists of:
Duct tape!!
Vet wrap
Iodine
Gamgee
Cotton wool
Scissors
Vaseline
Sudocrem
Animalintex
Blue spray
Fly spray/gel
Mud fever barrier cream

I'm sure there's more but I can't think of them all.
 
milliepops said:
Amazing how many people don't have them isn't it :/
Click to expand...

Yes, and when they ask to borrow it, they have no idea of what their horses temp normally is, nor do they have much of a clue on using one :(

I wish people took their horses temp as a matter of course, just to keep records in case vet ever asks, or if horse is genuinely ill......
 
The only thing I have in mine that hasn't been mentioned already is those little pods of sterile saline you can buy at the chemist. They are fab for cleaning and flushing wounds and grazes even if your hands aren't spotless, or you don't have a totally clean container etc. Plonked in a mug of hot water they warm up really quickly and warm sterile saline is fab stuff. I swear by them and have them in my lorry first aid kit too.
 
In terms of emergency first aid...I would have animalintex, gamgee, salt water syringes, scissors, Melonin, purple/silver spray, antiseptic powder. And clean bandages.
I have this available all the time.
 
Hmm... off the top of my head:

Thermometer
Vaseline
Betadine soap
Betadine wash
Antiseptic spray
Purple spray
Antibacterial wound powder
anti-Bacterial hand gel
Sterile physiologic solution in 20ml ampoules
Hydrogen peroxide
100% alcohol
Ambulance dressings in 4 different sizes
Gauze swabs, sterile and non-sterile
Melonin
Vet wrap
Steristrips
Animalintex
Syringes of different sizes
Stapler
Staple remover
 
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