Horse emergency & illness signs — pain/colic signals, when to call the vet (UK DEFRA code)
Source: 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.
Illness 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.
Claims
any signs of pain or discomfort, including facial tension, reluctance to move, pawing at the ground, rolling, increased rate of respiration and sweatingVeterinary 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.If you think that there is anything wrong with your horse, contact your veterinary practice.Sudden changes can lead to gastrointestinal upsets including colic and diarrhoea and should be avoided.in donkeys, loss of appetite can be life threatening in a very short period of time so veterinary advice should be sought immediatelyEveryone responsible for the supervision of horses should be able to recognise signs of ill health and have a basic knowledge of equine first aid.