{"topic_id":"exotic_health_horse_emergency","category":"exotic-pet-health","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_health_horse_emergency\ncategory: exotic-pet-health\ntitle: \"Horse emergency & illness signs — pain/colic signals, when to call the vet (UK DEFRA code)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"DEFRA — Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017); Open Government Licence v3.0; verbatim quotation per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §2.\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-22\ntokens_estimated: 196\nverification:\n  method: substring_match\n  claims: 6\n  passed: 6\n  date: 2026-08-22\nrecovered: false\npath: exotic-pet-health/exotic_health_horse_emergency/01_exotic_health_horse_emergency.md\nsource_document: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs\"\n  title: \"Horse emergency & illness signs — pain/colic signals, when to call the vet (UK DEFRA code)\"\n  url: \"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-22\"\n  ref: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\n  doc_type: \"official PDF\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: cc_by\ncopyright_note: \"© Crown copyright 2017. This publication is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3); verbatim reproduction permitted with attribution. Attribution: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017).\"\nauthority_tier: T1\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T1:uk-gov\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-22\n---\n\n# Horse emergency & illness signs — pain/colic signals, when to call the vet (UK DEFRA code)\n\nSource: UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), “Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids” (December 2017), gov.uk. Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0 — verbatim quotation permitted with attribution; C1 substring-verified against `pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt`.\n\nIllness and emergency recognition from the DEFRA welfare code: behavioural and physical signs that may indicate pain or colic, the requirement for basic equine first-aid knowledge, and when veterinary advice must be obtained.\n\n## Claims\n\n- `any signs of pain or discomfort, including facial tension, reluctance to move, pawing at the ground, rolling, increased rate of respiration and sweating`\n- `Veterinary advice should be obtained if the horse appears to be ill or in pain and the cause is not clear or if initial first aid treatment is not effective.`\n- `If you think that there is anything wrong with your horse, contact your veterinary practice.`\n- `Sudden changes can lead to gastrointestinal upsets including colic and diarrhoea and should be avoided.`\n- `in donkeys, loss of appetite can be life threatening in a very short period of time so veterinary advice should be sought immediately`\n- `Everyone responsible for the supervision of horses should be able to recognise signs of ill health and have a basic knowledge of equine first aid.`\n","sources":["exotic-pet-health — Horse emergency & illness signs — pain/colic signals, when to call the vet (UK DEFRA code) (retrieved 2026-08-22)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-health","title":"Horse emergency & illness signs — pain/colic signals, when to call the vet (UK DEFRA code)","url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids","retrieved":"2026-08-22","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt"},"source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","source_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T1","fidelity":"verbatim","license":"cc_by","display_grade":"A"},"tokens_estimated":196,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}