What are your best tips for getting a cast horse back up?

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl A. Harless on July 19, 2010 at 8:36pm

I witnessed a great example of getting a cast horse back on her feet. She was over 17 hands tall, and even in her very large stall, she managed to get herself cast. Luckily she was on camera and her owner was alerted right away. The owner and her husband calmly walked into the barn and that seemed to be enough for this big mare. She just laid there calmly waiting for her rescue (obviously this is NOT the norm!). The owner and her husband came out with large cotton ropes looped at the end with a slip knot. He walked up and looped the rope over the hind leg closest to the wall, while she looped hers over the foreleg closest to the wall. The both walked in a large arc to the other side of the mare, as far away as they could get and closed the loops gently and then together pulled with all their collective might. As soon as the mare was on her side, they let go of the ropes and got out of her way so she could get up on her own.

The most important thing is they were prepared. They had the ropes hanging in the barn and both knew exactly what to do to help the mare. The owner admitted that it was not always so easy, especially if the horse was struggling to get up! But she swore by this method.

Permalink Reply by Patti at OMEGA ALPHA on July 19, 2010 at 11:17pm

Ask a standardbred trainer for an old hopple and keep it handy. You can loop the smooth plastic hopple end over the hind leg by the hock and pull. This gives you leverage to get the horse off the wall and enough room so you don't get hurt when they flip back your direction and scramble to get up. The smooth plastic doesnt injure the horse or your hands when you pull. Great trick if you are alone.

Permalink Reply by 4XChestnut on July 20, 2010 at 7:04pm

I too use long lead ropes looped around each of the two legs closer to the ground. It is possible to do alone with a horse that is not panicky, and also can be done with just a rope around the foreleg (but both works better). I prefer to hold both ends of each lead rope as they fall free when dropped and the horse can step away from them. I've lost count of the number of cast horses I have flipped over this way (most often alone). When you have a helper, it's important to either explain when to drop the rope or have them waiting for your signal to let go - my helper once let go too early and I had to finish the roll with just one roped leg as leverage.

I have heard that you can pull on the tail to rotate the horse (not flip) so they have room to use their legs, but I'm not convinced that pulling that hard can't injure their tail or spine.

With a young foal it's relatively easy to pull the chest or hindquarters and turn the foal away from the wall rather than try to roll them over.

The two scariest cast horse experiences I have involved the horse putting a foot through the wall (one between bars above the wood, the other between the wood boards). In both cases I ended up kneeling on the horse's neck to keep them down and quiet while others worked to free the foot.

Permalink Reply by Alaina M. on July 21, 2010 at 10:27pm

I've seen that scary scenario happen too - horse got both feet through the boards up past the fetlocks. Thank goodness the vet happened to be visiting at that time and between her, myself and the owner we were able to quiet the horse and pull the boards out to free the feet!

Permalink Reply by Alaina M. on July 24, 2010 at 10:11pm

Definitely a good idea! It was a scary time when the vet and I had to try to keep the horse quiet while the owner went running around looking for a hammer.