GOLD COAST HORSE HEALTH and safety

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MY HORSE IS TRAPPED - WHAT SHOULD I DO? OR NOT DO?

By MaryAnne Leighton

Each of the 1.3 million domesticated horses in Australia, no matter how quiet or well educated, has the potential to become involved in an emergency incident and need to be rescued.

Two of the most common rescues are of horses trapped in mud and incidents involving horse floats but horses also fall down cliffs and into ditches, gullies, sinkholes and septic tanks and they get stuck in troughs and tractor tyres used as feeders.

While they don’t happen very often, horse rescues are seriously dangerous emergencies because a trapped horse is explosive – if he can’t escape he will fight and he fights hard. Unfortunately, horse rescues are often mishandled, sometimes with fatal results. Fire and Rescue personnel, equine vets and RSPCA Inspectors are not routinely trained in Large Animal Rescue techniques and are generally ill-prepared to respond effectively to the wide variety of scenarios presented by horse rescues. However, these professionals must be involved to ensure the safety of humans and horses and prevent each unique incident turning into a disaster. MORE........

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Photo: Dr Rebecca Gimenez

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