Horse Health Care – Equine First Aid Kit

I get a call from time to time to go to somebody’s place and help them with a horse injury or just to look at a horse that “just ain’t right”. Now I always tell people to call their Vet, but it seems like most of these calls are Friday night through Sunday night, when it is hard to get ahold of a Vet, or at best, you get an answering service. For the record my Vet is available 24/7 and 365 days a year unless she’s out of town – but not all the people I know use her. So, as well as having an organized Horse Medical - First Aid Kit for my own use on my own horses, it pays off for me to have a first aid kit I can throw into my truck without having to scrounge around loading up things I think I may need.

I use a “Big Mouth” canvas and nylon tool bag that I bought at Lowe’s and in it I have the following items:

Stethoscope
Digital Thermometer – the kind with a push button on feature and only takes about three second to get a reading.
Disposable rubber gloves
Duct Tape
Hoof Boot (Easy Boot)
Wonder Dust Wound Powder
Blue Kote Wound Spray
Corona Anti Septic – for wounds, but also good for coating a digital thermometer before you place it in the horse’s butt
Squirt Bottle of Alcohol. I also pack alcohol prep pads, but alcohol is cheap and squirting a lot on an injection site and cleaning with a gauze pad is probably a better way or ensuring you have a clean injection site
Gall Salve
Assortments of Syringes, 12 cc to 30 cc and Needles, 18 and 20 gauge needles
Vet Wrap (lots of Vet wrap!)
Roll of Saran (Plastic) Wrap
Gauze Sponges and Gauze Pads
Kerlix Bandage
Cotton Roll, 12 inch wide by 5 foot long roll of cotton
Medical Tape, Elastic type
Pelican Head Lamp as you invariably are looking at horses at night. I also have a ball cap with LED lights in the brim – that comes in handy too and I’m way too old to be concerned about looking geekish.
Bandage Scissors
Povidine-Iodine 10% Solution
Triple Antibiotic Ointment
Clear Eye Washing Solution
Opthalmolic Anti-Biotic Ointment (for eye infections)
Ear Mite – Tick remedy (half Campho-Phenique and half Mineral Oil)

As you can see from the picture, I keep everything in zip lock bags to prevent dust and dirt from each item.
I also keep medicines in a fridge in the Tack Room, and I can grab it and throw it into my First Aid bag in a hurry:

Bute Paste
Pro-Biotics Paste
Fluxomine (Banamine) injectable solution
Penicillin Injectable Solution
Electrolyte Paste

In my saddle bags I always carry a small bottle of Wonder Dust Wound Powder and a roll of Vet Wrap with some guaze pads and the absorbent portion of a ladie’s tampon stuffed inside the Vet Wrap hollow roll. A lot of time a horse will get a horizontal laceration of a fore leg and those absorbent portions of a ladie’s tampon is a good fit for the wound.

Hope this helps you decide on what you need for your kit. I have to caution you that before your give medications, such as Banamine or anything else, consult your Vet.