To print

Horse vet checklist: free printable PDF

Call immediately in an emergency. This sheet helps you report known details; you do not need to finish it first. Add contacts and usual resting values beforehand on a healthy day.

Content checked in October 2026

PDF · A4 · version 1.2

Download PDF Print from your browser

What’s on it

Your horse’s normal values, to fill in on a healthy day.
Observations for the call and signs requiring immediate contact.
What to tell the vet, and the numbers.

How to use it

Print it and fill in the normal values on a quiet day: measure three evenings.
Hang it on the stable door or in the tack room, with a thermometer.
In an emergency, call first. Then record what you can safely observe.

Before you call the vet

In an emergency call first; do not wait to fill this in

Halster

This horse

Name

Born

Vet

Number

Out-of-hours number

Owner, number

Normal values at rest, measured on a healthy day

What	Book value	Normal for this horse	Measured on
Temperature	99–101 °F / 37.2–38.3 °C
Pulse	28–48 per minute
Breathing	about 8–14 per minute

Reference: Rutgers, Measuring TPR. Ranges vary by source. A normal value does not rule out illness; call with signs or concerns.

Call at once for

Rolling, pawing, looking at the flank, sweating without work
Temperature above 38.5 °C (101.5 °F)
No droppings, or not eating and drinking
Unwilling to stand or walk, severely lame
A deep wound, a wound near a joint, a closed eye
Feed from the nose, retching, laboured breathing
Suddenly quiet and sweaty after violent restlessness
In doubt

What I check today

Date and time

Temperature

Eating? Drinking?

Droppings: how many, what like

Posture and behaviour

What changed (feed, field, work, rug, farrier, vaccination)

Pulse

Breathing

What I tell the vet, in this order

Who I am, which horse, where he is
What I see and since when
Temperature (and his normal), eating and drinking, droppings
Pulse and breathing if I have them
What changed, and what medication he gets
What I have already done

In Halster

Keep the instructions after speaking to your vet

Once help is arranged, note the veterinary instructions and next agreed contact in Halster.

Test Halster for iPhone

Install the test version through TestFlight.

More about Halster