Some general guidelines that indicate you have an emergency are:

• Signs of Colic (rolling, pawing, biting at side, sweating, depression, lack of manure production, not eating)

• Any uncontrolled bleeding

• Foreign objects protruding from the body (don’t remove them!)

• Lacerations

• Injury to the eye or eyelids

• Aggressive or unusual behavior

• Neurologic signs (tripping, walking into objects, circling)

• Severe lameness that renders the horse painful or immobile

• Difficulty breathing

• Mares which are actively in labor for more than 20 minutes without progress

• Multiple animals getting sick at once

• Inability to rise