LARGE ANIMAL RESCUE SKULL SESSION
September 9th

WHAT'S THAT ON YOUR HEAD? HOW THE INCIDENT WAS RESOLVED

This problem is based on a real scenario and is presented for a "Skull Session" discussion in the Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue Facebook Group. Location Nevada, in a small town on the wild horse range where horses live in and roam through town. Date and Time Early spring, mid afternoon. Incident Details A call is received that a young wild horse is running around town with a wire "cage" stuck over his head. It turns out that stuck his head into small round screen type plant cage designed to keep rabbits from eating a young plant. Obviously it didn't keep horses out. Unfortunately the cage got tangled in the horse's mane and when the youngster raised his head, the cage came with him. Here's the problem. This is a wild horse. He now can't eat or drink. The cage is tangled and won't come off. The cage is now starting to split and is cutting into the edges of the horse's eyes. The conventional "Four Ts" (trap, transport, tranquilize and treat) will not work in this situation since any mistake could result in a blind horse. The horse was spotted hanging out with a small band of other wild horses. Skull Session Questions What are your priorities? What are the safety issues? What resources do you need? Describe your action plan. Group Feedback. Feedback for this problem was very focused. This job will take finesse, not force, to resolve. Limit hands-on volunteers to those well versed in horse behavior. Use appropriate safety precautions and equipment (e.g., helmets, gloves, vests, etc.) Have all the tools and equipment that may be needed at the ready. Maintain communication and coordination among the rescuers at all times. Corral the subject horse with some of his buddies or next to some calm domestic horses. Carefully move the horse into a chute for handling. Use long stem hay and/or water as bait if necessary. Let the horse get calm in the chute. Move quietly so he doesn't thrash around and jam the wire basket into his eyes. Use two people at the head, one to cut the basket free while the other holds the basket away from the horse's eyes as well as possible. Expect the horse to react as soon as the basket is disentangled from his head.   ACTUAL RESCUE ACTIVITIES A local resident baited the horse into a round corral along with a couple of his buddies. We brought two panels into the round corral to make a squeeze while the horses were milling around on the opposite side. With the end of the squeeze open, we walked the horses slowly in a circle until the one with the cage stuck on his head walked into the squeeze. We then carefully closed the squeeze and quietly approached and scratched the horse on the shoulder until he settled. The problem here would be that we had to work in front of the horse, around his face, to get the cage removed so we needed to maintain some calming "grooming" activity at his shoulder to help keep him quiet. After assessing the situation we determined that the cage was still clamped together at the end of the horse's nose. It had split apart at the opposite end. The wire mesh was tangled in the horse's mane on the horse's right side and appeared to be somewhat loose on the left side. The chosen strategy was to carefully reach in from the horse's right side to snip the point where the ends of the cage were still wired together and at the same time attempt to pull the cage slightly toward the right, away from the horse's right eye. The theory was that since the left side wasn't tangled, it should fall slightly away from the horse's right eye and drop along the jaw when opened with the nippers. After several attempts in which the horse would move his head away we were able to snip the bottom of the cage whereupon the horse immediately backed up. At the same time we pulled the cage down and to the right, getting it free from the horse's mane. The horse received a couple of minor scratches from the sharp edges of the cage as it pulled away but otherwise he was perfectly fine. Within about a minute he was back on the range with his buddies. Go to Skull Session Index Return to the Strike Team LRTC Page

This material is intended for the use of the Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue (TLAER) Facebook Group. TLAER is a trademark of Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue.