Windmiller Equine

10/31/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

Happy Halloween! You've made it to the last day of our countdown which brings us to an emergency contact card. Whether this important info hangs directly on a stall or on a master barn board doesn't matter as long as the information is up to date and immediately handy. Furthermore, knowing the contact info of nearby referral centers and emergency trailering options is best to have gathered and saved BEFORE an emergency necessitates needing them. Lastly, if you are planning on going out of town, please make sure to reach out to your veterinarian to inform them who might be calling on your behalf in the event of an equine emergency while you are gone. Having a plan and knowing your resources can make a scary situation a lot less overwhelming when you're in the midst of it.

10/30/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

Day 12 gives us a headlamp or flashlight. This particular item may seem a bit random but you never know when you might need one. And when you need one, you REALLY need one. Horses like to get themselves into all sorts of predicaments, and being able to navigate with light to a down horse in the night or to better examine a wound while keeping your hands free is essential when the situation demands all hands on deck--literally and figuratively.

10/29/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

You probably were wondering when gloves were gonna show up, and Day 11 is that day! Disposable exam gloves are a key component of any first aid kit but especially when working with horses. Not only do they protect your skin from debris, blood, and medications, they are also protecting your horse from your own normal skin bacteria and germs.

10/28/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

Day 10 gives us gauze! Gauze comes in squares or rolls, woven on non-woven ply, and sterile or non sterile versions. Really, almost any sort will do though we recommend at least having squares (usually in 4x4 in size) on hand as this type can be used for a wide variety of first aid needs. Roll gauze is most helpful at securing padded dressings over wounds or stitches or navigating the more challenging portions of equine limbs (hocks and pasterns come to mind).

10/27/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

Today's essential item may not have been high on your guess list: clippers! There are several great options available to horse owners now that can be useful for more than just grooming. Clipping wounds, especially on the limbs and especially when coats are thicker in the fall and winter, can be helpful to evaluate how extensive or deep they are. Sometimes clipping a wound and sending a picture can even save you an emergency call if your veterinarian can get a better look at the injury! Clippers are also handy for treating dermatitis (skin disease) such as scratches, rain rot, ringworm to name a few.

10/26/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

Day 8 brings us to our preferred cleaning agents: Betadine and Dawn dish soap. Betadine is a well-known antiseptic with mild detergent action that is a go-to for scrubbing wounds. Dawn dish soap is a great gentle soap with fantastic detergent action that excels at lifting dried blood, mud, and seeping serous discharge. Are they in your kit? They should be!

10/25/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

Day 7 brings us Epsom salts and Epsom salt drawing salve or gel! Epsom salts have multiple uses in equine emergencies, but for owners their main use is as an agent to draw out inflammation and swelling. Soaking a good bruise or abscess in warm water and Epsom salts is a helpful way to encourage an abscess to drain and offer your horse some short term pain alleviation. Packing the bottom of the foot with Epsom salt poultices or gels continues the drawing action between soaking sessions.

Epsom salts can also be added to limb dressings like Furazone for extra crunchy sweats that can help reduce swelling quickly in cellulitis cases.

10/24/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

Today brings two unusual but incredibly useful tools: diapers and duct tape!

One of the most common lameness concerns called in on emergency are hoof abscesses. In our experience, diapers and duct tape is one of the most expedient, easiest, and economical ways to secure foot packing gels or salves. A diaper and duct tape bandage also comes in super handy when treating lacerations and wounds to the coronary band, pastern, hoof, or heel bulb.

10/23/2026

13 Essential Items for Your Equine First Aid Kit

The fifth item on our list is bandaging supplies: standing wraps, no-bow bandages, and vet wrap. While there are a lot of options to wrap a leg, these are our Absolutely Must-Have Recommendations.

A standing bandage not only protects and covers lower leg wounds, but can also be used for support and compression. We greatly prefer the No-Bow Standing Bandage (white cotton pillowy wrap) to the other thinner, often quilted texture alternative. The standing wrap (colored nylon thinner roll) is not to be confused with a polo wrap (compressed fleece material and thicker).

Vet wrap is a stretchy, self-adhering, one-time-use bandaging material that can be used for a variety of wrapping needs. While versatile, we don't recommend wrapping it directly on the skin as it can be placed too tightly or twisted, or if swelling rapidly or suddenly occurs beneath it, vet wrap can act as a tourniquet.

10/22/2026