What Is Your Vet Thinking?

Learn what goes through your vet’s mind as they come running to help in an emergency.

Iwas the event veterinarian for a big horse show when my pager went off in the early hours of the morning. ‘We have a colicky horse,’ the message said. ‘We can’t keep him on his feet!’ It was a groom for a trainer I’d never met, and the owner was from a different state. I threw on my clothes and jumped in my truck, wondering how this story would unfold.

As I drove to the horse showgrounds, my brain clicked into overdrive. How bad would this horse be? Can we find the owner? Is the facility set up so I can get my truck in to the barn? And would I be able to perform an adequate exam in the horse’s stall? What about a truck and trailer?

Would there be something available to haul the horse to a referral hospital if his symptoms were severe? And where is my stethoscope anyway?

Did I put it back in the drawer after my emergency last night? By the time I arrived, I had planned for every possible scenario.

Are you surprised? Don’t be. Once you call your vet for an emergency and know that help is on its way, you might be thinking, “Whew, problem solved.”

On the flip side, your vet is probably thinking about how they’re going to solve this problem. It’s true that every single time I head out the door to an emergency, I’m thinking through all the possible scenarios, and coming up with alternative courses of action I might need to take depending on the situation.

In this article, I’m going to give you an insider’s look at what goes through your veterinarian’s mind when you call with an emergency. I’ll begin with an overview of what they’re likely to be thinking in every case. Then, I’ll clue you in to some specific concerns they’re probably considering based on the most common emergencies we see. Finally, I’ll help you understand what you can do to help your vet be prepared the next time you make that call.

Emergency 101

If there’s one thing to know about equine emergencies, it’s that none of them look exactly the same. I may have seen a thousand colicky horses, but colic number 1,001 will be just a little different. That said, every emergency requires certain things. As soon as you’ve made that call, chances are your vet will start trying to answer the following five questions:

Question 1: Who’s deciding? Perhaps one of the most difficult situations is when a horse is in crisis, and the owner can’t be reached. They might be on an airplane, traveling to another country, or simply sleeping soundly with their phone on do not disturb. When I get a call from someone who isn’t the owner, this is a question I’m asking. Who’s going to make decisions for this horse? And how will I navigate the situation if no one takes on that responsibility? In fact, I’ve had to make the call to euthanize a horse before I could reach the owner—only to have them turn into the driveway just as we were finished. Fortunately, it was an owner I knew well, and I felt comfortable making the decision. But what if it had been someone I had never met?

Question 2: What’s the set-up? If

I’m headed to a barn I know, I’ll think about how I’m going to get in the gate (especially in the dark), what would be the best location for working on the specific problem, and where I’m going to park my truck. Is there enough light? Is there running water and easy access to electricity? If I know the facility, I’ll probably ask the caller exactly where the horse is located so I can make my plan. And if I’ve never been there before, I’ll have lots of questions before I arrive.

Question 3: How’s the horse and who’s my handler? Part of my planning always involves thinking about the individual horse. Is he a barely halter-broke yearling? Or a solid