Some general guidelines that indicate you have an emergency are:

• Signs of Colic (rolling, pawing, biting at side, sweating, depression, lack of manure production, not eating)
   

• Any uncontrolled bleeding
   

• Foreign objects protruding from the body (don’t remove them!)
   

• Lacerations
   

• Injury to the eye or eyelids
   

• Aggressive or unusual behavior
   

• Neurologic signs (tripping, walking into objects, circling)
   

• Severe lameness that renders the horse painful or immobile
   

• Difficulty breathing
   

• Mares which are actively in labor for more than 20 minutes without progress
   

• Multiple animals getting sick at once
   

• Inability to rise