Floating your horse
Good morning Central Otago. What a lovely weekend it’s going to be. In the last few weeks I have seen several patients that sustained injuries due to accidents inside of the float either whilst loading, or once travelling. Today I just wanted to give you some pointers to think about prior to floating your horse.
Hay or no hay:
The horse has developed as a grazing animal which means that respiratory secretions drain down the trachea, into the mouth and are swallowed. This mechanism is reduced during floating as the horses heads can be held up for a long period of time. In addition, often a hay net is supplied at nose level which can increase dust exposure to your horse and further contaminate the airways. My advice would be to consider the length of your journey. If it is a short trip then no hay will be needed. If your horse needs hay to help keep them relaxed during the journey, then consider dampening the hay prior, but ensure it has had time to drain to avoid causing a slippery ground surface. If you are travelling on a long journey, for example 6 hours or more, it would be a better idea for your horse to plan some stops on the way where they can graze some grass or floor based hay. This will assist in draining the respiratory tract. The respiratory tract is very important for all horses, but especially competitive horses. Promoting good respiratory health with assist in preventing viral disease and promote performance whilst away competing.
Please note if hay is dusty, this is mould spores in your hay and it shouldn’t be fed to your horse.
Feeding:
I feel this would be a good time to remind you all how horses gain most of their energy. Unlike people who digest sugars and carbohydrates in the stomach and small intestine, horses are not well adapted to this. Instead, fermentation of grass and hay in the hind gut produces a source of VFA’s (volatile fatty acids). These produce energy for your horses for them to use for exercise and health. These VFA’s are produced constantly from the fibre in the hind gut even when they are NOT eating. You can therefore be confident that they will continue to gain energy from hind gut fermentation during the entire float ride 😊
Float boots or bandaging:
The idea of leg protection is to prevent injury to the horse primarily from its other legs during transport. A common injury would be to the heel bulbs of the front feet from stepping forward with the hind feet. Sometimes more severe injuries can be sustained from hind feet lacerating the skin and tendons of the front legs. Protection of the legs is a very good idea, but the potential negatives include the float boots or bandages slipping down the legs and panicking your horse resulting in an injury. My advice would be to always consider covering important tendons on the legs as long as your horse is used to it and they are fit snug to the leg. Try to avoid new leg wraps when floating, and trial run them prior. Also remember the shortest of journeys are just as risky for your horse. Please do not forget to remove studs and keepers when floating.
Head trauma:
This is a very common injury also, and mostly it causes skin damage to the forehead and a headache for a few hours. There is nothing you can really do to prevent this other than keep going with your float training. My advice would be, try not to panic. The skin on the head heals very well. The images I have attached are photographs of a common injury, then how it can be easily stitched, and then 10 days later when th stitches are removed.