Eyes & attitude
Bright, responsive, interested in feed. Note squinting, discharge, dullness, isolation, or an unusual posture.
Horse care field guide
Calm care.
Clear action.
Know what normal looks like, spot trouble early, and handle everyday barn routines more safely.
Call your veterinarian now
Severe colic signs, uncontrolled bleeding, breathing distress, collapse, inability to bear weight, seizure, choke, or a deep wound near a joint.
Two minutes, twice a day
The head-to-hoof check
Look before you touch. Compare both sides. Small changes matter most when you know your horse’s usual behavior.
Breathing & nose
Quiet, easy breaths at rest. Watch for flared nostrils, cough, heaving sides, noise, or colored discharge.
Gut & output
Normal appetite, water intake, manure, and gut sounds. No repeated flank-watching, pawing, rolling, or stretching.
Legs & hooves
Walk willingly and evenly. Feel for new heat, swelling, tenderness, stronger digital pulses, wounds, or loose shoes.
0 of 4 checkedToday’s quick check
“Prevention starts with observation, not equipment.”
Preventive care
Build the routine before you need it.
Veterinary wellness +
Schedule regular exams and establish vaccination, parasite-control, dental, weight, and senior-care plans with your veterinarian. Keep written records.
Hoof care +
Pick feet daily. Use a consistent farrier schedule and respond promptly to sudden lameness, heat, strong pulses, cracks, or a shifted shoe.
Feed & water +
Provide constant clean water and forage suited to the horse. Make feed changes gradually; store feed securely and remove moldy or contaminated forage.
Barn & pasture +
Remove sharp edges, toxic plants, loose wire, clutter, and fire hazards. Check fencing, gates, ventilation, footing, and electrical equipment routinely.
Allergies & persistent itching
Itching is a symptom,
not a diagnosis.
Insects and environmental allergies are common possibilities, but parasites, infection, contact irritation, pain, and other skin disease can look similar. Persistent rubbing deserves a veterinary workup—not guesswork.
01 · Notice the pattern
Write down what changes.
- Where: mane, tail, belly, face, ears, legs, or all over
- When: seasonal, after turnout, at dawn or dusk, or year-round
- What you see: hives, hair loss, scales, crusts, swelling, or broken skin
- What changed: feed, hay, bedding, pasture, detergent, spray, medication, or tack
Take dated photographs. A simple timeline can be more useful to your veterinarian than trying several products at once.
02 · Reduce exposure safely
Protect skin while you investigate.
- Use a well-fitted fly mask or protective sheet when appropriate
- Use barn fans and limit turnout during peak biting-insect activity
- Remove manure and standing water; keep stalls dry and ventilated
- Rinse sweat and keep brushes, blankets, tack, and bedding clean
- Stop a newly introduced topical product if irritation follows its use
Do not start human medication, steroids, medicated shampoos, or major feed eliminations without veterinary direction.
Veterinary reference
Learn more from the UC Davis Center for Equine Health: Insect Bite Hypersensitivity and A Scratch for Every Itch.
Horse owner toolkit
Prepare now.
Think clearly later.
These eleven practical guides turn routine observations into useful records and emergency preparation. Fill in the worksheets before you need them and review them with your veterinarian.
01 · Baseline profile
Know your horse’s normal.
Record calm, resting observations on several ordinary days. Your veterinarian’s ranges and your horse’s established baseline matter more than a single generic number.
02 · Emergency contact card
Put critical information in one place.
03 · Call now or monitor?
Use urgency—not optimism.
This guide does not diagnose. If signs are severe, rapidly worsening, unfamiliar, or you simply feel something is wrong, call your veterinarian.
- Breathing distress, collapse or seizure
- Uncontrolled bleeding or deep wound near a joint
- Severe or persistent colic signs
- Choke, eye trauma or inability to bear weight
- Facial swelling with breathing difficulty
- Fever, marked dullness or stopped eating
- New swelling, lameness or painful eye
- Repeated itching with damaged skin
- Abnormal manure, urination or water intake
- Any meaningful change that persists
- A small change with no distress
- Normal vital signs and comfortable movement
- Eating, drinking and passing manure normally
- No worsening during close observation
- Call if the pattern changes or continues
04 · While help is coming
Common emergency procedures.
Call first, describe what you see, and follow your veterinarian’s directions. Protect yourself, keep the horse as quiet as practical, and do not improvise invasive treatment.
Colic +
Remove feed, note manure and recent changes, take vital signs if safe, and walk only if your veterinarian advises it. Do not give medication without direction.
Choke +
Remove feed and water, keep the horse calm with the head lowered, and call immediately. Do not force water, oil, feed, or a hose into the mouth.
Wounds and bleeding +
Use clean material and steady direct pressure for significant bleeding. Do not remove an embedded object. Photograph the wound and protect it from contamination while awaiting instructions.
Eye injury +
Treat squinting, tearing, cloudiness, swelling, or eye trauma as urgent. Prevent rubbing and do not apply leftover eye medication.
Suspected laminitis or sudden severe lameness +
Limit movement, place the horse on deep soft footing, and call promptly. Do not force the horse to walk for assessment.
Heat stress +
Stop work, move to shade and airflow, begin continuous cooling with cool water, and contact a veterinarian for weakness, confusion, collapse, or failure to recover promptly.
05 · Property inspection
Barn and pasture checklist.
06 · Florida conditions
Plan for heat, insects and storms.
Florida’s risk is not one season. Daily heat and humidity, biting insects, lightning, flooding and hurricanes require overlapping plans.
Heat & humidity
Provide unlimited clean water, shade and airflow. Schedule work for cooler hours, allow acclimation, and stop for unusual fatigue, weakness, very rapid breathing, confusion or poor recovery.
Insects & water
Use physical barriers and veterinarian-approved control. Remove manure and standing water, use fans, and document seasonal skin reactions rather than repeatedly changing products.
Lightning & flooding
Know the safest available shelter and avoid waiting until a storm is overhead. Identify low areas, blocked drainage, unsafe trees and fences that may become inaccessible.
Hurricanes
Choose evacuation destinations and routes in advance. Practice loading, keep identification and records ready, and leave early enough to avoid dangerous winds and gridlocked roads.
07 · Trailering & evacuation
Have a plan A, B and C.
08 · Preventive care record
Keep the care history together.
| Care item | Last completed | Next due / plan | Provider or notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veterinary wellness exam | |||
| Vaccinations | |||
| Dental examination | |||
| Farrier / hoof care | |||
| Parasite-control plan / fecal testing | |||
| Weight / body-condition review | |||
| Medication review |
09 · Hay guide
Compare the bale,
not just the name.
Species matters, but maturity, harvest conditions, storage, and the individual cutting can matter just as much. A forage analysis is the only reliable way to know the nutrient and sugar levels in a particular lot.
| Hay type | Typical character | Often considered for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| TimothyCool-season grass | Usually palatable; texture and nutrition change greatly with maturity. | Many adult horses when the tested lot fits their needs. | Late-cut hay may be coarse; the name alone does not predict sugar or calories. |
| OrchardgrassCool-season grass | Often softer and leafy when harvested well. | Horses that prefer a softer grass hay. | Can be nutritionally rich when cut young; test rather than assume it is “light.” |
| Bermudagrass / CoastalWarm-season grass | Common in the Southeast; fine-stemmed when properly harvested. | Many Florida horses, subject to quality and an appropriate ration. | Avoid overly mature, stemmy, dusty, moldy, or improperly cured bales. |
| AlfalfaLegume | Typically higher in protein, calories, and calcium than grass hay. | Growing, lactating, hard-working, or hard-keeping horses when professionally balanced. | May oversupply energy for an easy keeper; balance the whole diet and do not assume it is appropriate for every horse. |
| Grass–alfalfa mixMixed forage | Can combine grass fiber with some legume nutrient density. | Horses needing more than grass hay alone but not a full alfalfa ration. | The ratio varies bale to bale; consistency and testing matter. |
Inspect every lot
Use your senses before you buy.
- Fresh, clean smell—never musty, sour, or unusually hot
- No visible mold, excessive dust, weeds, trash, or animal contamination
- Mostly leaves and pliable stems; color alone does not prove quality
- Stored dry and protected from rain and ground moisture
Match the horse
Ask what the hay must do.
- Consider age, teeth, workload, body condition, and health history
- For overweight, insulin-dysregulated, or laminitis-prone horses, select hay with veterinary or equine-nutrition guidance and laboratory data
- Introduce a new hay gradually when practical and watch appetite, manure, weight, and comfort
- Weigh portions; a “flake” is not a dependable unit
Forage principle
Buy by cleanliness, maturity, consistency, and a representative laboratory analysis—not by hay name or color alone. Review the results and the complete ration with your veterinarian or qualified equine nutritionist.
10 · Senior horses
Watch function, not just age.
Older horses vary widely. Regular veterinary and dental care, thoughtful nutrition, comfortable movement, and close observation help identify changes before they become crises.
Track closely
- Weight, body condition and muscle loss
- Chewing, quidding and feed refusal
- Stiffness, stumbling and difficulty rising
- Vision, hearing and behavior changes
- Water intake, urination and manure
- Ability to stay comfortable in the herd
Discuss with the veterinarian
- More frequent wellness and dental checks
- Diet changes for teeth and metabolic needs
- Pain and arthritis management
- Appropriate exercise and turnout
- Cold, heat and fly protection
- Quality-of-life markers and emergency wishes
11 · Printable resources
Take the guide off-screen.
Print clean copies for the tack room, trailer, barn office, or veterinary folder. Information entered above is included in the printed sheet during this visit.
Veterinary and extension references: University of Minnesota Equine First Aid · UF/IFAS Managing Heat Stress · University of Florida Hurricane Checklist. Guidance should be individualized with your veterinarian.
Safer handling
Position, attention, and an exit.
Even a trusted horse can startle. Good habits protect both of you without making every interaction tense.
1
Approach clearly
Speak, enter the horse’s field of view, and watch ears, eyes, weight shifts, and tension.
2
Control the rope
Fold excess rope; never wrap it around your hand, arm, or body. Wear sturdy closed-toe footwear.
3
Guard your space
Work near the shoulder, avoid kneeling or sitting, and do not trap yourself between horse and wall.
4
Plan the release
Use safe tie methods and appropriate hardware. Know where you can step if the horse moves suddenly.
Before an emergency
Put the plan where everyone can find it.
Save your veterinarian and backup clinic numbers. Post the farm address, gate instructions, trailer plan, and the person authorized to approve care.
First-aid kit basics
- Thermometer and lubricant
- Clean towels and gauze
- Bandage materials and tape
- Saline wound rinse
- Gloves, flashlight, scissors
- Veterinary-approved medications only
Do not give medication or attempt invasive treatment unless your veterinarian directs you.