CHERRY
HILL'S HORSEKEEPING NEWSLETTER
October
2003
This
newsletter is a personal letter from me to you,
a fellow horse owner and
enthusiast.
My goal is to answer some of your questions and send you interesting
stories and helpful tips for your
horse care, training, and riding.
Vital
Signs Issue
© 2003 Cherry Hill
©
Copyright Information
Vital
signs measure a horse's body functions and are a good indication of his overall
state of health. Learn how to take your horse's temperature, pulse, respiration,
capillary refill time, perform the pinch test and become adept with a stethoscope
for listening to his heart, lungs, and intestines. Know what is normal for most
adult horses. But every horse is different, so know what is normal for each of
your horses so you will know when there is a problem. To establish normals, take
the vital signs twice a day for three 
days
and average the readings. Choose various times of day but always when the horse
is at rest, not when he has just been working or is excited. Write them in your
horse's record. Then, when your horse becomes ill, you can take his vital signs
and compare them to his normals. This is valuable information to have on hand
when you call your veterinarian.
Click
on a Vital Sign below to change pages 
RESPIRATION
A
horse's normal resting respiration rate is usually between 12 and 25 breaths per
minute. One breath is measured as one inhalation and one exhalation. The ratio
of the pulse to the respiration rate is often a more significant measure of stress
than each of the actual figures are. Depending on the horse's age, his normal
resting pulse to respiration ratio should range from 4:1 to 2:1. If the ratio
become 1:1 or 1:2 (called inversion), the horse is suffering from oxygen deprivation
which indicates serious stress. When a horse is exercising heavily, it is easy
to measure his respiration rate by watching his nostrils dilate and relax (each
cycle counts as one breath) or by watching his ribs move in and out. However,
this is very had to detect in a resting horse so the best way to determine a respiration
rate is to use a stethoscope on the trachea. With the ear pieces in your ears
and facing forward, press the bell firmly into the underside of the horse's neck
about four inches below the throatlatch. Count the breaths for fifteen seconds
and multiply by four. Alternatively, you can try to obtain a respiration rate
by listening to his lungs but it takes more practice and experience this way.
Place the stethoscope midway down the heart girth on the left side. You will hear
the quality of the breathing process in his lungs but might not be able to identify
definite breaths.
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