How to check your horse's breathing

By checking temperature, pulse, breathing and mucous membranes, you can get an idea of the horse's condition. It is important to find out what your horse's normal values are, in order to quickly identify abnormalities when it is feeling bad.

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Find out the horse's temperature

Check the horse's temperature by using a thermometer in the rectum. Normal body temperature is 37.2 to 38.2 degrees – although the temperature can increase all the way up to over 40 degrees during physical activity.

If you temperature your horse in resting mode daily for a week, and calculate the average, you get an idea of what the normal temperature is and what thus deviates from normal.

How is the breathing?

Listen to the horse's breathing, does it sound normal or is it strained? To know how the horse breathes, you can put your head or your hand on its abdomen and count the number of breaths. A horse usually breathes 8 to 15 times per minute when resting. Just like with the temperature, it is important to have found out your horse's normal breathing at rest.

Check the horse's pulse

Also check what pulse the horse has, an elevated pulse can indicate that your horse is affected by pain, for example. The resting heart rate of a horse is between 28 and 40 beats per minute. Take your horse's pulse at rest for a couple of days and calculate what its normal value is.

You can feel the horse's pulse on the superficial blood vessel that runs under the jaw at the ganache. Alternatively, on the superficial blood vessels at the back, a little on the side at the vertebral joints. Place two fingers on the blood vessel and count the beats once you have found the pulse.

Examine the mucous membranes in the mouth

To check the horse's mucous membranes, lift the upper lip and assess the colour of the mucous membrane over the teeth. Press with a finger against the horse's mucous membrane, it will leave a white fingerprint that within 2 to 2.5 seconds should go back to bright pink.

If the mucous membranes do not regain their light pink colour or are discoloured, consult a veterinarian. Normally, the mucous membranes are light pink, but they can be anything from dark red to pale in various conditions.

Don't forget to write down your horse's normal values and store them in a place that is accessible, for example on the horse's notice board, in the grooming box or on the mobile phone.

Why it is important to know the horse's normal values

Both pulse and breathing rate reflect how the horse feels internally. In the case of colic, for example, the values are of great importance for assessing how severe the colic is and how the horse's general condition is affected.

Colic symptoms with a largely normal pulse and respiratory rate are likely to be less severe, while the same symptom picture with a clearly elevated pulse and respiratory rate indicates more serious underlying causes.

Temperature rises in fever cases, but sometimes also because of pain. In the event of a more severe infection, the body also reacts with an increased heart rate and respiratory rate.