introduction - save your horse for tlaer intro.pdf · slide 3 dr. tomas and dr. rebecca gimenez...

Technical Large Animal Emergency

Rescue

Introduction ONE HOUR

®

Welcome to the Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue INTRODUCTION online web

presentation.

In the early 1990’s Dr. Tomas Gimenez was working with swine, cattle and horses at Clemson

University when he got interested in disaster and emergency rescue of large animals. When he

realized how little information was out there, he started sharing with others in the veterinary

field, and learning from such innovators as Dr. Dick Mansmann and innovators in California,

Europe and the UK. Soon he was working with veterinarians, firefighters and emergency

responders across the Southeast with an emphasis on scene safety.

In 1994, Rebecca came along and involved her training in natural horsemanship and

understanding the behavior of large animals in these techniques – together they performed

research and development of techniques, tactics and procedures for a variety of TLAER

scenarios. Their teaching and involvement with VMAT (now NVRT) thru FEMA brought a

disaster facet to their work, and they now provide training all over the USA and the world on

four continents.

They are proud to have had a chance to teach, work with and learn from students from 14+

countries who are returning to their homeland and bringing these ideas to their emergency

responders. It is their fervent dream to see less dangerous and more efficient responses to

large animal incidents continue to evolve into the future – keeping both animal victims and

their well intentioned rescuers safe.

NOTICEThe information in this presentation is intended as an introduction

to the ideas, philosophy and basic concepts of Technical Large

Animal Emergency Rescue, and individuals should not attempt to

rescue a large animal based on this information only.

Safe and appropriate TLAERTM emergency rescue of large animals

should only be performed after adequate tactics, techniques and

procedures training, and education in large animal behavior.

NOTICE - the information in this presentation is intended as an introduction to the ideas,

philosophy and basic concepts of Technical large Animal Emergency Rescue, and individuals

should not attempt to rescue a large animal based on this information only.

Safe and appropriate TLAERTM

emergency rescue of large animals should only be performed

after adequate training.

Dr. Tomas and Dr. Rebecca Gimenez

www.TLAER.ORG

Join the Facebook Group “Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue”

[email protected] and

[email protected] E-Mail

®

Tomas and Rebecca are the co-owners of a corporation they call Technical Large Animal

Emergency Rescue, Inc. (TLAER™)

The best way to interact with them is to join the FACEBOOK group for TLAER online – either

by going to the www.TLAER.org TLAER.org website homepage and clicking on the JOIN

FACEBOOK GROUP logo, or searching for Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue on

Facebook.

Alternatively – send them an email

TOMAS - [email protected]

REBECCA – [email protected]

They enjoy sharing pictures, videos and your stories of rescues – successful or not. That is how

we all learn.

The name and logo for TLAER™ are copyrighted and registered trademarks.

This presentation is copyrighted 2010/2011/2012.

http://www.tlaer.org/

mailto:[email protected]


Original Painting by David Pavlack

Available thru USRider.org

This painting by David Pavlak in 2006 shows the variety of large animal rescue scenarios and

gives an idea of how many resources it might take to perform them successfully.

Entitled “Helping Hands, Helping Hearts” it is available as a print thru www.USRIDER.ORG

In the painting is our demonstration horses “Elektra” with the blaze face, “Angel” the dark mare

in the floodwater, “Karma” being offered the feed bucket and of course “Aerial Painted Pants”

the paint mare in the Anderson Sling and being slid onto the Rescue Glide. More information

about the demonstration horses that we use in TLAERTM

courses is available on our website

www.tlaer.org under INSTRUCTORS.

http://www.usrider.org/


• Students completing any/all levels of TLAER training

understand they are not being certified as TLAER Interns,

Assistant Instructors or Instructors.

• TLAER, Inc. is a corporation, the TLAERTM Logo is a

registered mark, the materials and ideas covered in this course

or distributed to students are copyrighted as the intellectual

property of Dr. Tomas & Dr. Rebecca Gimenez, of TLAER, Inc.

• Persons violating copyright laws will be construed as having

unlawfully plagiarized and distributed intellectual property or

materials. This includes, but is not limited to paid teaching,

public speaking, or displaying of TLAERTM materials without

permission from TLAER, Inc. especially when falsely

representing oneself as a TLAER Assistant / Instructor.

• We encourage students providing free “teach one – share with

many” workshops or seminars to their local communities of the

methods, ideas and procedures that you learn in this one hour

web presentation, and follow-on educational events.

Self explanatory. Read the above.

We are offering this online course to increase general knowledge of TLAER™ techniques, ideas

and procedures. It is intended for students of TLAER ™ courses to be able to offer to their local

emergency responders, saddle clubs, cattle organizations, etc. to increase interest and awareness

of some of the issues associated with large animals.

This is NOT an awareness nor operational level course. You should increase your knowledge of

TLAER™ related standards of care, manipulations and procedures before attempting any live

rescue of an animal.

NOTICE - the information in this presentation is intended as an introduction to the ideas,

philosophy and basic concepts of Technical large Animal Emergency Rescue, and individuals

should not attempt to rescue a large animal based on this information only.

Safe and appropriate TLAER emergency rescue of large animals should only be performed after

adequate training.

Please do not steal the ideas and materials in this course for profit or paid teaching by you. The

intention is to provide a short introduction to the ideas that we teach in the Awareness,

Operations, and that are available in our textbook thru Wiley, Amazon, etc. that is entitled

“TECHNICAL LARGE ANIMAL EMERGENCY RESCUE” or see link at http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0813819989.html

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0813819989.html

BACKGROUND EXAMPLE FROM

A LIVE RESCUE

Read the scenario on the notes page below and

think about the following questions:

•What went right?

•What went wrong?

•What COULD have gotten someone injured?

•Were there better controls that could have been

used to make the rescue more efficient?

•Is there anyone else or any other profession that

should have been involved to make this a more

efficient safe rescue?

®

Horse rescued after ordeal in hole By CASEY BUECHEL - Tribune Staff Writer

Monday, September 28, 2009 1:34 PM CDT

Her name is Trixie. She is 30-years-old, half American Quarter Horse, half Appaloosa, and she is alive today thanks

to the rescue efforts of three fire departments, a wrecker service and a veterinarian who worked for more than three

hours to remove the mare from a hole in an earthen dam. No one knows exactly how long Trixie had been down in

the hole, but owner Nancy Carney last saw her when she fed the mare and other horses on her land last Tuesday.

Sunday, when Carney couldn't locate Trixie again, she hunted for her. And found her four feet down in a horse-sized

hole in the dam. "We don't know how she ended up in there, we just knew we had to get her out," said Carney.

One of the first people on the scene was family friend Bryan Francis, a lieutenant with the Mount Pleasant Police

Department, who owns a horse that's also pastured on the land on CR 1915. Francis balanced at the edge of the hole

and talked to Trixie, keeping her calm as more and more people arrived to try and get her out of her predicament.

First Carney's neighbors arrived, then Sugar Hill VFD personnel, then Mount Pleasant Fire Department personnel,

then a large wrecker from Rychlik's Auto Service and then Talco VFD personnel with a backhoe. Personnel worked

to keep the horse safe and calm, covering her eyes, as Talco VFD firefighter Nathan Carroll brought the backhoe to

within four feet of the hole and the bucket of the backhoe to within a foot of Trixie in an attempt to dig out a path for

her to use to walk out of the hole.

Exhausted, the mare couldn't work her way out of the hole and Carroll, following the directions of Talco Fire Chief

Randy Carroll, kept removing dirt with the skill of a surgeon. After three hours of trying to dig her out with the

backhoe and shovels, rescuers used straps provided by Wesley Rychlik of Rychlik's Auto Service, to at last haul

Trixie out of her tiny hole onto the freshly excavated ramp carved out by the backhoe.

She was still too drained to get to her feet, so rescuers let her rest a bit and tried a different approach to get her onto

solid ground. Using old fire hoses, they placed them around the mare and then attached them to the backhoe.

Slowly, carefully, Carroll backed the machine across the dam, gently dragging Trixie onto solid ground to the relief

of owner Carney, but for several minutes the mare didn't move and everyone held their breath. And then she quietly

turned her head to take a bite of grass, bringing smiles and deep breaths to all those on scene. Rescuers kept working

with the mare to get her to her feet and finally, around 9 p.m., Trixie stood up to the cheers of everyone.

Mud-encrusted and weary, she was taken from the dam apron into the pasture to level ground to be checked over by

Dr. Katy Dunn D.V.M.. "I've given her some pain killers and something to encourage her to drink and eat," said

Dunn who otherwise gave the horse a good medical report after her ordeal.

20 minutes…

Photo by Tori Miller, NC

®

The solution to many large animal scenarios is usually to stay out of the rescue environment and

use appropriate tools.

Here the horse is in very deep mud and clingy sticky mud – which represents danger to a person

as well as the horse.

Notice that no one is digging because that usually just will bury the horse further. The rescuer is

on top of the mud on a platform, in a harness with a safety line, he is using PPE (helmet and

gloves) and has a control halter and lead rope on the horse. Here he is using a Nicopolous

Needle (a especially designed TLAER™ tool) to push underneath the animal, then get a pilot

line and some webbing underneath to be able to perform a forward assist, sideways drag, or

vertical lift. Note there is only one person on the mud platform in the hot zone, but there are

others available to hand him items and keep the scene clear.

Within 20 minutes of initiating the scenario (getting the horse in the mud) the horse was lifted

out by students with a vertical lift, after air insufflation / injection into the mud which breaks the

suction or vacuum effect on the extremity.

This is one of our demonstration horses, Sancho, a National Walking Horse born in 1993. At 17

hands and 1200 pounds ( kilos) he is quite intimidating to students but he loves treats and people.

®

Pictures tell a million words.

Proper and continuous preventative maintenance checks of trailers and vehicles cannot be

stressed enough to owners and operators of vehicles and equipment that move livestock and

horses.

A library of prevention and safety information related to trailer and float safety, maintenance,

driving safety and resources for drivers can be found at USRIDER.ORG

There were two horses in this trailer, when a board broke under one of them. It is obvious from

the photo that the boards were rotting and no longer secured into the frame due to lack of

maintenance. When one broke, the animals went thru the floor onto the road surface, suffering

horrific trauma to their extremities and each other by attempting to stand up on each other.

Both animals were euthanized on the scene. As of this date no animal cruelty charges have been

filed against the owner of the trailer.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

CUT OBSTACLES OUT OF WAY

BUILD A RAMP

MAKE A PATH or TRAIL

USE WEBBING

BRING A BARGE

CONTAINMENT not CAPTURE

Keeping it simple means – don’t call a helicopter! Most TLAER™ incidents can be easily

solved by methods that encourage the animal to use it’s muscles to perform a self-rescue AFTER

the obstacles have been removed, or a ramp or path has been cut or built to allow the animal to

extricate itself.

Webbing is far preferable to rope for attachment to the animal – increased surface area prevents

damage to the soft structures under the skin. Significant damage can occur to animals if a rope is

used improperly.

Think ahead about resources such as barges and boats to get animals out of flooded areas without

having to attempt swimming rescues – these are the most dangerous form of large animal rescue.

Loose animals should be contained first, then if individual capture with a halter and lead rope

can be performed, that is justified. MOST large animals cannot be easily individually

approached to halter and lead them.

Safely lifted out of the canyon…

Sacramento Bee photo

®

Although helicopter rescues are media magnets and there are slinging techniques and procedures

that do work, these types of rescues are extremely dangerous to people and very expensive.

A good rescue plan should start by utilizing simple and less technical solutions, and keep

difficult and complicated ones as a last ditch effort.

This horse was at the bottom of a canyon trapped on an island and the decision was made to lift

the horse instead of attempting a water crossing. The UC Davis VERT team assisted with the

successful rescue of this horse.

But - How many of our

“emergencies”

are MANMADE?

Photo Courtesy Dr. Tomas Gimenez

Too many of our emergencies with animals (and people that get injured by them) are self-

inflicted. We put animals in paddocks and pastures with significant obstacles in them (holes,

muddy ponds that ice over, dangerous fencing, cattle grids) that lead to animals getting

themselves trapped.

Alternatively, we sometimes handle animals in ways that lead to them or us getting kicked,

gored, crushed, and trampled. Low stress handling techniques and natural horsemanship

methods have contributed much knowledge to a new generation of riders and cattle owners that

is changing our predatory handling techniques and should be researched by students of

horsemanship and livestock handling.

Stay in a safe position and prevent others from going into those unsafe positions. Here, standing

behind a horse to push on it’s rump and force it into a horse trailer are four people – while one

inside is pulling on it’s head. This is a recipe for disaster for both the people and the horse.

The “PERFECT” Rescue

• Efficient, Professional, Safe

• ENABLE A “SELF RESCUE” OF VICTIM

• Appropriate Equipment

• No Iatrogenic Injury To Victim

• No Injury To Rescuers, Bystanders, Etc.

• Coordinated With All Levels Of Incident

Command System ( 000 Triple Zero)

®

There is no perfect rescue.

However – we can aspire to attain a MORE perfect rescue by following these ideas of efficiency,

professionalism, training, and safety.

We can use appropriate and sometimes specialty equipment that is made to handle the task.

Sometimes that might have to be innovated on the scene.

We grade “success” by the following factors:

• No iatrogenic (during the rescue) injury to victim

• No injury to rescuers, bystanders, owner, etc.

• An appropriate outcome was achieved.

• Incident was coordinated thru ICS of the emergency services (911 emergency dispatch

system, 000, 999 depending on which country in which you live).

If the Large Animal

cannot be safely rescued,

it will not be rescued

®

Euthanasia is an appropriate and humane way to end suffering by an animal. It should be

considered immediately if there is no safe way to access the animal, if the animal represents a

major hazard to people, or if the animal’s outlook is considered to be extremely poor.

Sometimes this should be decided by a veterinarian in accordance with the owner, but in TLAER

scenarios this sometimes is decided by the IC on scene – with or without veterinary advice.

It may be performed in accordance with AVMA and AAEP guidelines for humane euthanasia for

livestock and horses – usually with a firearm.

DO NOT SHOOT BETWEEN THE EYES, a line should be drawn between each ear and eye to

form a cross – a cow is shot at the intersection of the lines, and a horse 1 inch above the

intersection of the lines.

Teach EVERYONE in emergency services not to listen to the movies, and learn instead the

appropriate landmarks for field euthanasia.

King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery

Household Cavalry Blues and Royals

30 May, 2008

Training

®

New things are hard to accept for most people. In a country with thousands of years of history

attached to it, doing it the way we have always done it is the easy thing.

But there are always those that look outside the box and realize that there are new ideas.

Here the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and Household Cavalry to Her Majesty the Queen

of England practice simple manipulation techniques on Lucky the Rescue Manniqin, taught by

Jim Green and Anton Phillips, Hampshire Fire Brigade with the assistance of Dr. Tomas and Dr.

Rebecca Gimenez.

Since this time, they have capitalized on what they learned – and in 2011 when there was an

incident with a shattered horse leg at the Queen’s Coronation celebration – they had a plan and

enacted it well.

Lebanon, OH Race Track Fire December 5, 2009

®

This is an example of the human to animal bond that exists between people and animals. A

horrific fire started at a race track barn in 2009 in Lebanon, Ohio. There were 46 horses in the

barn, and at least 2 stable workers sleeping in the barn when the fire started.

Race tracks and stabling facilities worldwide DO NOT provide fire safety and evacuation

TLAER ™ training to their staffs – partly due to daily turnover in personnel and horses coming

into and out of the barns and for other reasons. Thus, no one on this scene understood how fast it

could spread, and dangerous a fire could be.

There are so many areas of the horse industry where attention to TLAER ideas could assist

people and animals, and keep them safe too!

2 persons dead, 43 horses dead

®

Despite attempts to rescue horses, 43 horses were lost in this horrific fire. Only 3 were saved.

And in the rubble was found two people.

It is estimated that these people were attempting to save horses out of the barn when they were

overcome by smoke and died.

That is a horrific consequence to a lack of training, preparation, and appropriate mitigation

techniques that should be standardized across the industry.

®

A fire truck is not a fire truck. It is a pumper, or a ladder, or a rescue unit, or a brush truck. Not

all have the same equipment on them.

However, some of the basics do not change. The easiest way to learn what YOUR firefighters

have on their trucks is to visit the local department and ask.

You can ask for the department to come to your facility and teach you about barn fire safety and

even do an evaluation of your premises to prepare for wild and barn fire response.

You can offer for the department to learn about how to halter and lead horses and livestock at

your farm for an afternoon demonstration about TLAER™.

And you can make sure that they have your address in the system to be able to respond if there is

an incident at your home.

What’s On A Fire/Rescue Truck?

• Hoses, Webbing, Cribbing/Lumber

• Air & Water (Various Pressures)

• Cutting Equipment (Numerous Types)

• Ladders, Plywood, Pike Poles

• Human Rescue Equipment

• Medical Supplies For Humans

• Communication Equipment for Resources

• Rope and Mechanical Advantage Systems

• At LEAST 4 Firefighters

®

Fire / Rescue trucks have the most appropriate types of gear on them of all for performing

TLAER™ rescues. This may include:

•Hoses, Webbing, Cribbing/Lumber

•Air & Water (Various Pressures)

•Cutting Equipment (Numerous Types)

•Ladders, Plywood, Pike Poles

•Human Rescue Equipment

•Medical Supplies For Humans

•Communication Equipment for Resources

•Rope and Mechanical Advantage Systems

•At Least 4 Firefighters

You should contact your local firefighters and emergency response units and ask them what they

have on their vehicles and resources that can be used for TLAER ™ type rescues. You might be

surprised at their response!

Photos Courtesy Bill Maily

®

Animals are not as dumb as some people consider them to be. Here, cattle have found the

highest ground around, and are staying together as a herd. If the flood water is going down- the

most appropriate thing to do would be bring some hay to this location and wait until it is gone to

corral the animals.

If the water is still rising – it is possible with coordinated resources to corral the animals and

drive them into a barge that is appropriate for loading large animals then transport them to a safer

location.

Trying to direct a herd of cattle to swim to safety is a difficult if not impossible task. It is better

managed by removing calves and smaller animals and asking the other animals to swim to follow

their offspring.

“Safer” working area

Kicking Zone

Head butt zone

Thanks to Jim Green, HFRS, UK

Animal’s instinctual effort will be to GET UP!

®

The instinct of the large animal tells it to GET UP and RUN AWAY. Even domesticated and

friendly horses and cattle will still stand when you approach if they are sleeping or snoozing in

the sun of a paddock.

If an animal is down on it’s side or on it’s sternum like our horse “Torque” is showing here,

approach it very carefully as it should attempt to rise. If it does not – it is either extremely

exhausted, has a severe medical issue, or is trapped in something that prevents it from rising.

If it is trapped – it will struggle to rise on your approach and may seriously injure itself doing so.

The safer working area around a downed animal is from the dorsal or back side, where you

cannot get kicked or bitten (shown in yellow). The kicking zone is EVERYWHERE around the

rest of the horse, and the head butt zone is the neck where you might want to attempt holding the

animal down for further evaluation of its medical status.

A down or recumbant horse on it’s side should be held down by extending the neck and have a

person putting a knee into the muscle of the neck immediately behind the head. Ruminants

(cattle, llama, etc.) should be rolled onto their sternum to prevent bloating – do not lie them on

their side.

Photos courtesy Bill Bourne, Milton FD, GA

®

This is a demonstration of the “fish flop” that horses perform when attempting to stand up under

their instinctual drive to get up and run away. If they are neurologic, have musculo-skeletal

injuries, or absolutely exhausted they may not be physically or medically capable of standing.

Ruminants tend to be more relaxed about being down – after a couple of attempts they will

usually stay down and should be kept on their sternum, not pushed onto their side to prevent

bloating.

A healthy animal can stand even with attempts by people to hold it down.

If a horse cannot stand after one or two good attempts, the animal should be held down by

extending the neck and have a person putting a knee into the muscle of the neck immediately

behind the head. The animal should be further evaluated by medical personnel.

Photo Courtesy Laurie Sullivan

The modern horse: 6,000,000 years

Wild environment: 99.92%

Under human management: 4 - 6,000 years

0.08%

®

The “modern” horse has been under human domestication attempts for somewhere between 4-

6,000 years based on archeological evidence. That is about 0.08% of it’s evolutionary history as

a herd prey animal living on the open plains and savannahs of the Earth – where slow, old and

injured animals were eaten by predators. The facts of evolutionary improvement to make horses

faster, more agile, taller, and capable of eating small amounts of grass for 18 hours a day on the

constant move to greener pastures have not changed with our domestication. In fact, breeders of

race and show horses still attempt to capture the agility, speed and reactivity in their breeding

program.

Modern horses still react like wild ones to sudden sounds and predatory animal behavior – they

run because they are chased, they jump because they perceive a threat, and they bolt out of fear.

In this picture, “Buddy” the Arabian horse is only doing what millions of years of shaping by

external factors has produced – despite the obvious that this small dog could do minimal damage

to the horse.

Horses are not without significant weaponry. If you look closely at the horse’s body language –

you will realize that he is gauging timing and distance to kick out at the dog. Horses can bring

enough power to bear in one kick to kill this dog, break a human femur, or push thru a solid wall.

Do not become a

secondary incident victim!

Wear bright colored, reflective clothing.

MAXIMIZE YOUR VISIBILITY

®

Prepare for performing TLAER incident response by having appropriate PPE (Personal

Protective Equipment) for the job.

All responders should have a HELMET of some kind, BOOTS to protect your feet, and wear

LONG PANTS with a heavy BELT to limit injuries and so that you can be retrieved easily from a

scenario by your buddy.

On road responders should have bright, reflective clothing so that you do not get hit by another

driver on the road.

Animal handlers should have GLOVES.

Specialty situations will require HAZMAT gear, goggles, and hearing protection as needed.

YOU WANT TO BE

SEEN!!!!

®

Think about your equipment – can you find it in the dark? A small piece of reflective tape on

each will make it easy to find even in the dark.

Vehicles and trailers should have DOT reflective striping along the back and sides at a

MINIMUM.

We suggest that horse and cattle trailers have additional reflective striping along the top, down

the back and sides of the trailer. Too many accidents occur where a trailer breaks down and

while changing a tire, another vehicle runs into it. Make sure you can SEE the back of your

vehicles in the dark.

DO NOT shout or yell

UNLESS trying to make it move.

“Keep your mouth shut!”

- Dr. Temple Grandin

Colorado State University

Shouting and yelling only

increases the stress level in animals

that are already stressed.

®

Attention to the senses of large animals and realizing how they perceive the world will help you

to better approach and handle large animals in scenarios as varied as at home to loose on the side

of the road to trapped in an overturned horse trailer.

Rarely does it make sense to shout at a prey animal – unless you are TRYING to make it move.

It is always preferable to use a calm relaxed voice and talk to it while approaching – it doesn’t

matter WHAT you say, but HOW you say it.

Animals in TLAER™ scenarios are stressed and getting dehydrated by the minute. The more

you stress them by yelling unnecessarily may contribute to them more quickly descending into

medically fragile status.

This is one of the HARDEST things to control and manage on scene because humans make

LOTS of noise and tend to do what they see in the movies.

WHY SO MUCH ABOUT SAFETY?

Equine

Masseter

Muscle

Strength:

500 PSI

®

These animals CAN bite. They rarely try to do that to humans if they are domesticated, but they

CAN do it and they exert more pressure than a dog bite when they do. They can remove layers

of skin and pinch off extremities.

Llama, camels and pigs have fighting teeth with which they can slash and rip huge lacerations in

a human. Exotics have even MORE weaponry. Even a goat can seriously injure you with their

horns.

Cattle even more rarely bite – and they don’t have teeth at the top of their mouths but they can

still bite if stressed enough. And it hurts!

Analysis of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System

(NEISS) data in the US was performed by the Equestrian Medical

Safety Association in 2007.

Of 78,279 horse-related injuries, fractures (28.5%);

contusions/abrasions (28.3%); strains/sprains (14.5%); internal

injury (8.1%); lacerations (5.7%); concussions (4.6%); dislocations

(1.9%); and hematomas (1.2%).

Motorcycle riders average an injury once every 7,000 hours, while

horse-related accidents occur once every 350 hours. Most frequent

injury sites: lower trunk (19.6%); head (15.0%); upper trunk

(13.4%); shoulder (8.2%); and wrist (6.8%).

Within this study, patients were treated and released (86.2%), were

hospitalized (8.7%), were transferred (3.6%), left without being

treated (0.8%), remained for observation (0.6%), and arrived at the

hospital deceased (0.1%).

This is the data from just ONE study – there are many more in the scientific research to back up

how dangerous horse activities are.

Who knew that motorcycles were so SAFE? Compared to horse activities – they appear to be so.

Remember that in this study, the number of dead patients is 0.1% which is NINE people.

Bottom Line: Wear a helmet when working on a TLAER™ scene. Think about safety and have

an animal handler that understands animal behavior.

ANIMALS are

INDIVIDUALS!

UNPREDICTABLE!

®

Large Animal Rescue may include VERY large animals.

Assume that animals are unpredictable and dangerous until they prove otherwise. This happens

to be a friendly Brahma bull in South Carolina named “Sampson” that likes peppermint treats

and white bread, and can be haltered and led around with children on his back.

But that does not mean that he will be easy to handle in an overturned trailer or when stuck in

mud.

®

Here “Dexter” our llama shows us that not all prey animals react exactly like you expect –

sometimes they may decide that the best option is a good offense and attack like he is

demonstrating here.

Notice the dog’s body language – he certainly did not expect this result!

Photo Courtesy Al Filice

CONTAINMENT is usually better than CAPTURE

®

Here the student firefighters are working together to use a method of containment (110 feet of

polygrid fencing with poles every 15 feet for handles) to surround some loose animals and drive

them into a contained area off of the busy highway.

At that time, individual animals can be haltered for control if possible, or the fencing can be

utilized to push the animals onto transportation assets.

Most domesticated animals are used to being in some kind of containment and will do much

better with this slow containment of the herd method than being caught individually.

DO NOT CHASE large animals. Use a bigger brain and the idea of containment instead of

chasing.

Horses from overturned semi corralled while

awaiting transport. All horses have been adopted.

May 2010Photo by Paul B. Southerland, The Oklahoman

®

This is just a real live example of using containment fencing on the side of the road. This is

construction fencing. Despite injuries from the overturned vehicle and unusual circumstances,

the animals are more interested in the grass on the side of the road than leaving.

Photos courtesy Rebecca Gimenez

®

Wear a helmet! Leading animals on the side of the road or out of barn fires is very dangerous

and will require defensive leading tactics on your part to be able to perform safely.

On the left – “Aerial” shows a student that she is bigger and knows exactly how to use a shoulder

block maneuver to make him move backwards.

On the right – a student leads “Torque” out of a simulated barn fire with only a neck rope – often

there is no time in these scenarios to halter them properly. Do not just let them loose – they will

run BACK into the barn.

The hardest TLAER skills to learn are

ANIMAL HANDLING.

PRACTICE!®

Obtaining expertise with animals is as difficult as learning another language or learning to tie

knots in ropes. It is an ESSENTIAL but DIFFICULT and PERISHABLE skill for TLAER™

responders.

IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU ARE BORN WITH – EVERYONE HAS TO PRACTICE. You

are a predator and you will act like one until you learn to look for ways to do the opposite and be

able to read the body language of animals in both normal and

The best way to learn is to start by reading some books on Natural Horsemanship (John Lyons,

Pat Parelli, etc.) and Low Stress Handling Techniques with livestock.

Follow that with a day at a horse farm, cattle farm, or livestock facilities and observe animals in

their natural and normal state. Then practice approaching, haltering, leading and loading with

horses with a mentor that can explain how to do this safely and efficiently.

All the driver sees of a horse and people 100 feet in front of them.

Photo courtesy Tomas Gimenez®

Due to the refractability of animal fur having evolved as a prey animal to be camouflaged as

possible, a person CANNOT see an animal in the road in the dark in time to avoid hitting it.

This picture with “Sancho” demonstrates that in a car coming along at 40 miles per hour – you

would have less than two seconds upon seeing the animal in the road to stop.

Human factors laboratories have shown that it takes 1.6 seconds of that time just to react and put

your foot on the brake.

Simple physics shows that you will not get the vehicle stopped in time.

This explains why so many wild and domesticated animals get hit on the road by cars, and so

many people get injured and killed when that happens.

Prevention is the key – keeping animals out of the road in the first place! Stronger laws to punish

people who fail to establish good fences would help.

JOHNSTON COUNTY, NC

JUNE 6, 2007PICTURE COURTESY OF TORI MILLER

®

When it happens, the drivers often states “they didn’t see a thing” until they hear and feel the

impact. This driver was lucky – she survived this incident with a loose horse running across a

road. You can see the damage done by the horse.

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®

Here is the damage to the horse from the car in the previous slide.

The back leg on one side is completely useless – all the tendons and ligaments on the hock were

severed. The animal is doing a “fish flop” to attempt to stand – severely injured, scared and

separated from its herd – this animal is dangerous to approach.

“Horses do not tolerate loss of function of their hindlimbs, and are at high risk of self trauma.”

Dr. Rebecca S. McConnico, LSU Vet School

The responders called a veterinarian, discussed the situation and made the obviously correct

choice to euthanize the animal. By that time the owner had been located and agreed to the

euthanasia. TLAER™ trained personnel ensured that the police officer knew how to properly

perform a field euthanasia with a weapon, and the animal was put out of its misery.

TORSO

Whenever possible do not use the head or legs as “handles”

Fragile!

- Dr. Janice Baker, DVM

®

The head and legs and neck are not handles for any type of appliance, including the halter and

leadrope. Use the TORSO instead for webbing and slings to manipulate or lift the animal/

One of the reasons for this is that the lower legs of animals are devoid of muscle cover – it is

only soft tissues (blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, nerves) immediately under the skin and on

top of the bone. This is NO place for pressure injuries due to use of small surface area ropes, or

for rope burns. They take a long time to heal.

PICTURE COURTESY OF ALLAN SCHWARTZ

Incident in New Zealand

Winches should not be

used on ANY part

of an animal victim.

Use MANUAL systems.

®

This horrific photo is to remind us that a winch should NEVER be used to pull an animal out of

any scenario – whether the animal is trapped in mud or a trailer overturn. This animal was

apparently pulled out with a winch, and the tail came off. This is an extremely painful injury and

normally the animal should be euthanized immediately.

Use of the tail to reposition might be appropriate in certain situations – but use of webbing

around the body is better in most cases.

Manual systems and the use of air or water injection to break the suction effect of mud, or

lubrication to limit the friction will minimize the chance of injury to the animal.

COURTESY OF TORI MILLER

®

A very common scenario is an animal with one leg trapped in between a tight space – such as

corral panels, stall seperating bars, fork of a tree, etc.

This horse was being forcibly loaded into a trailer, reared, and caught the leg in between the gate

and the trailer. The most significant injury these animals will have is to their head, and

especially the down-side eye – from beating themselves in an attempt to rise.

Blindfold the animal, find a safe area from which to cut the offending entrapment or lift the

animal sufficiently to lift the extremity out. Sometimes lubrication will help.

COURTESY OF TORI MILLER

®

Here the responding firefighters are approaching the horse’s entrapped foot from behind the gate

to stay in a safer position.

You may have to assist the emergency responders to find the safe position so that they do not get

injured trying to assist.

Forward Assist Cinch Configuration on Standing Animal

Photo Courtesy Dr. Tomas Gimenez

®

There are four configurations of the Forward Assist – this is THE MOST OFTEN USED

TLAER ™ MANIPULATION METHOD.

Simple – Center the webbing over the withers and each end of the looped webbing goes thru the

front legs. Animals MAY NOT be vertically lifted using this method.

Larksfoot or Cinch – Center the webbing over the withers and one end thru the loop of the other,

then thru the front legs.

Wideman or Swiss Seat – Put the middle of the weebbing at the center of the animal’s chest.

Encircle the animal and criss-cross the webbing at the withers. This is the BEST configuration

for performing vertical lift when an animal has it’s hind end thru a bridge or hole and you only

have access to the front end of the animal.

Wither Top – When you have NO other methods available for lifting ruminants/cattle only –

larksfoot or cinch the webbing around the animal’s torso from the withers to the sternum

immediately behind the front legs. Put one loop of the webbing thru the other, cinch the webbing

at the withers.

Wideman config - Forward Assist

Photo Courtesy Edie Brogan

®

This is the Wideman or Swiss Seat configuration of the Forward Assist on one of our TLAER™

demonstration horses, “Torque”.

It is more difficult to put this appliance on – especially in mud - but it is more secure and keeps

the webbing out of the way of the animal’s legs, and increases the surface area by twofold.

Always have halter and leadrope on the animal for control and guidance – NOT to pull on the

head.

Employing the Backwards Drag….Courtesy of CPT John Fox, Felton Fire, CA

The backwards drag placed onto a horse in an overturned trailer approximately 17meters (45

feet) down a steep embankment. Cpt John Fox is instructing his personnel on how to perform

this safely – note that one team is in the hot zone applying the Backwards Drag to the animal

inside the trailer, without getting INTO the trailer.

Another team is conducting scene safety assessment and traffic control, and coordinating for

transportation and veterinary care.

Another team is cutting branches to make a short trail up the embankment for the animal when it

recovers from sedation after it is pulled out of the trailer.

Captain John Fox and his wife, Firefighter Deb Fox began the effort in the early 1990’s to

educate firefighters in California and actually wrote the program of instruction for the California

State Fire Marshall. They are amazing people with loads of experience and knowledge in this

specialty form of heavy rescue – they now provide training in the US as a company they call

Large Animal Rescue, Inc.

Backwards Drag Recumbant

Photo courtesy Anton Phillips and Jim Green, HRFS, UK

®

This picture shows the backwards drag placed onto a mannequin so that students can properly

see the emplacement and practice moving a downed animal in training.

Anton Phillips and Jim Green from Hampshire Fire Brigade in the UK have almost single handly

directed the UK Fire Services to get involved in learning proper response techniques to animal

technical rescues, and especially Large Animal technical rescues.

They early on got the involvement of the British Equine Veterinary Association, etc. and are the

leaders in the world at getting the coordination between RSPCA, veterinarians, and emergency

responders across their country.

Photo Courtesy Rebecca Gimenez

®

This is the use of the Hampshire Slip configuration of the Sideways Drag… where the webbing

is flossed underneath or a tool is used to push pilot line under the animal in mud or other

scenarios, then pull webbing underneath.

In this configuration the webbing is underneath the downside front and rear legs, allowing the

animal to be easily slid over mud or any surface with minimal damage to the body, as long as the

head is managed to prevent injury especially to that eye.

Initially used by the Hampshire Fire Rescue Service, UK this is a extemely valuable method for

mud rescue that prevents the animal from being rolled accidentally.

Here, “Aerial” is our demonstrator for the sideways drag and this picture shows how animals

even when not sedated will minimally struggle as long as pressure is on the chest and abdomen.

Photo Courtesy Anthony Hatch, Hawkesbury SES

This is the SES (State Emergency Services) in Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia

practicing for flooding emergencies by rescuing a cow on a Rescue Glide with their boats, and

wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for the exercise.

There are a few specialty items of heavy rescue equipment used in TLAERTM

training, and the

Rescue Glide is one of them. But MOST of the equipment used is simply adaptations of fire

rescue equipment and methodologies to animals that are large and don’t understand spoken

language.

Photo Courtesy M. Bickford, ME

Becker

Sling:• Increase the

Surface Area.

• Use Padding.

• Use 2 lifting

points and

Spread Bar.

• Maintain

control and

guidance of the

head.

• Use quick

release device.

®

Features of vertical lift should emphasize support of the animal’s body so that it cannot escape

from the sling, and also cannot injure a person during the evolution.

•The Becker Sling is a brilliant example of specialized TLAER ™ equipment – and the basics of

this method are listed here –

•Increases the surface area on the animals skin by use of webbing.

•Use of padding wherever possible (especially to protect sexual organs)

•Use of TWO pull points to better balance and distribute the weight.

•Control of the head with a halter and lead – but stay WAY out of the way and don’t PULL on the

head.

•Use of a quick release device so that the animal can be released from the overhead at set down.

Hampshire

version of

Simple Web

Vertical Sling

Photo courtesy Anton

Phillips and Jim Green,

HRFS, UK

®

This is the Hampshire version of the Simple web sling – used on a cow for a demonstration.

Photo Courtesy Rebecca Gimenez

The Large Animal Victim Is A Medical Patient

How Will The Rescue Procedure

Affect The Patient?

®

Being prepared to deal with medical emergencies is not the emphasis of this course – that is the

arena of the veterinarian and technicians. However – there are aspects of your rescue where you

can make a difference early on by minimizing the negative effects of medical issues.

Treating the animal like a medical patient and realizing how delicate they can be will go a long

way towards improving the emergency response attitude towards medical issues and early

treatment.

Work with your local veterinarian to set up a personal emergency kit for your horse, and for your

responses in the field.

•Dehydration

•Pain

•Hypoventilation

•Hypothermia

•Heat Stroke

•Colic

•Shock

•Kidney failure

Some Responses

of Large Animals to

Traumatic / Stressful Events

Large animals are particularly susceptible to stress and TLAER™ incidents represent the factors

that tend to cause animals to spiral into distressing medical situations.

Dehydration is almost universal because the stress (mental/ psychologic pain) of the incident

causes a neurologic and hormonally driven shift of metabolic water in the organism especially

when combined with physical pain.

Animals down on their side can’t breathe as efficiently, and ruminants will bloat and die if left on

their sides.

Environmental factors (heat, cold) can cause the animal to lose thermoregulatory control of their

body temperature – leading to hypothermia (cold water, mud, cold temperatures) or hyperthermia

(hot weather, overturned vehicle with sun shining on it or no ventilation, trapped in the sun).

All of the above, or any of the above, can lead to colic, shock and kidney failure which are

usually terminal medical conditions for large animals.

40 liters i.v. 12-24 hours8-12 liters per minute

over one nostril

®

Human medical equipment can be applied to large animals in many cases.

Oxygen can be administered to large animals – even if they are not getting all of it, oxygen

cannot hurt, and it may help. It certainly shows that you are attempting to provide medical care

to the patient.

Large animals require LARGE volumes of fluids via both naso-gastric and intravenous

administration to actually treat dehydration and this is probably best done by veterinarians, vet

technicians, and paramedic staff who have direct knowledge of proper cannulation techniques…

although there are some animal owners and staff who may have excellent knowledge of these

procedures.

Always defer to the veterinarian’s expertise on scene – you should make suggestions based on

your experience but you have to work as a team to be successful.

Keep it Simple

• Use Appropriate Tools / Equipment That Is Specialized For Large Animals

• Discourage Elaborate Strategies Such As Helicopters

• Triage And Make A Decision – If Euthanasia Is Necessary, Do It

• Physical Restraint First, Then Chemicals

• Think About Containment Instead of Capture

®

TLAER RULES – KEEP IT SIMPLE

Use Appropriate Tools / Equipment That Is Specialized For Large Animals

Discourage Elaborate Strategies Such As Helicopters

Triage And Make A Decision – If Euthanasia Is Necessary, Do It

Use Physical Restraint First, Then Chemicals (with a veterinarian’s supervision and direction)

Think About Containment Instead of Capture

Coordination with Local Emergency Response

(And State / Federal in Disasters)®

When firefighters and emergency responders respond to the scene – ensure you know what your

responsibilities, limits of your involvement, and provide advice on the safe techniques, tactics

and procedures that might be utilized.

This requires coordination PRE-INCIDENT with the players in your jurisdiction. This is a short

list of people that might need to be contacted to discuss their planning and response capabilities:

• State and County Animal Response Teams (SART/CART), Animal Control, Agricultural

University Extension, Veterinary organizations (Equine, Bovine, Exotic and General),

Emergency Response Coordinators, Military assets, etc.

Speak the Language of

Emergency Response

• First Responder At The Local/ County

Level

• Basic ICS 100 And NIMS 700 Required

• Share Your Contact Information With Local

911 Call Center Dispatch

• Get A Copy Of Protocols

®

In the USA, it is a REQUIREMENT to complete at a minimum ICS 100 and NIMS 700 online

training to be able to respond competently at ANY emergency scene.

Follow on training in ICS 200 and NIMS 700 is available online and should be a minimum

requirement of team members and personnel attending any TLAER ™ training event or

workshop at ANY level.

Learning to work within the framework of Incident Command System prevents egos from ruling

the scene and safety from being a last priority.

Share your contact information and interest in assisting with TLAER ™ scenarios with your

local dispatch call center – you may get more calls than you expected!

Take a look at the protocols that might be available thru your local emergency response – if any.

Make suggestions and additions as needed.

Photo Courtesy Pineland Farms

IT IS ABOUT THE

RELATIONSHIPS YOU ARE

BUILDING RIGHT NOW!

®

Thanks to Assistant Instructor Michelle Melaragno of Auburn, Maine, USA for this photo of

students who attended a TLAERTM

training event posing for a group photo.

The point is that the relationships that you build locally – with your veterinarians, emergency

responders (firefighters, police, animal control, EMS/paramedics) at all levels of government but

especially at the local level is important.

•Know WHO you can call to get cattle panels and horse trailers at 2 am without having to consult

Google or the yellow pages.

•Know WHO has jurisdiction over field euthanasia of a cow hit on the side of the road without

waiting 3 hours and arguing whose job it is to kill it and put it out of it’s misery.

•Know WHO will charge the driver of an overturned cattle trailer traveling too fast around a

curve but who has the all too often accepted (but lame and incorrect) excuse of “the live weight

of the load shifted”.

•Ensure that local dispatch has your contact information if you are willing to attend to these

types of scenarios.

What Does ICS Do For You?• Provides A Means For Multiple Agencies And

Organizations To Work Together

• Common Goal: Protecting Life, Property And

Environment

• Applies Business Principles Of Management,

Efficiency And Effectiveness

• All-risk System Applicable To Any Response

• Provides Leadership And Organization To The

Incident Which Equals SAFETY

• Learn The Overall Picture

®

It cannot be overstated the importance of using the principles of incident command system

applied to TLAER ™ type incidents.

•It provides a means for multiple agencies and organizations to work together. This is always a

difficult requirement to achieve due to egos, variety of experience, and differing goals.

•The emergency responders have a common goal: protecting life, property and environment is

similar in the oath of firefighters, police and veterinarians.

•ICS applies the business principles of management, efficiency and effectiveness to a scene,

especially a larger emergency and up to disaster level scenes. It makes everyone think of about

risk in a more standardized way.

•ICS works within an all-risk / all-hazard system which is applicable to any response (fire,

rescue, medical emergency or disaster).

•ICS identifies and provides leadership and organization to the incident which equals safety

•Personnel new to emergency and disaster response can learn how they fit within the overall

picture

Secondary containment

Scene Safety / Security

Coordination with Emergency Responders

Good ICS on scene

Triage / Field Hospital set up offsite

Thanks to MERS Large Animal Rescue unit in Eureka, Missouri, USA for sending this helicopter

overview photo of a horse trailer overturn to which they responded. This unit is one of our

busiest and most organized TLAERTM

student successes. See their website at http://www.mersteam.org/home.html

•The photo demonstrates their unit’s cooperation and coordination with the local emergency

response Incident Command structure – members are wearing bright green uniform shirts. They

have brought their equipment (corral panels, Rescue Glide sked, halters, veterinarians and

expertise) to the incident to work with the firefighters and police.

•The police have re-routed traffic around the scene and are providing security.

•The MERS have set up secondary containment around the trailer to allow mobile animals to get

out then be individually haltered, primary triaged and transported. They provide the advice and

coordination to the firefighters, provide cutting directions, answer questions on animal behavior.

•The veterinarians provide triage assessment capabilities on and off site, euthanasia, answer the

biosecurity concerns, and immediate medical treatment where possible.

•The firefighters are doing the cutting of the trailer in the appropriate place to maintain structural

integrity of the trailer, dealing with the injured driver, and providing assets to allow removal of

carcasses from the trailer.

•They MERS coordinated the set up of an off-site secondary triage and veterinary hospital for the

animals to be transported to in coordination with local veterinarians. They also coordinated the

transportation assets to respond to the scene for picking up injured and mobile animals.

•The Dept of Transportation is providing heavy equipment and trucks to remove dead animals.

http://www.mersteam.org/home.html

Photo courtesy of Roy Wesselman, Reilly Township FD & RS, OH

WHAT IS YOUR RESCUE PLAN?

Sent in by a TLAERTM

student and firefighter, this photo demonstrates some of the concerns that

may be found on these scenarios. Thanks to Roy Wesserman in Ohio for sending the photo.

Notice there are TWO horses that have climbed into the hay loft on the second floor. The

strength of the floor is questionable for a horse, and one has slipped down on the slick surface –

the owner is comforting that one right in front of his head.

•What would you do? Who would you call?

•How can you make the scene safer for the people?

•How can you make it safer for the animals?

•Do you need sedation? Anesthesia? Who will treat any lacerations or injury the animals might

have?

•Can animals walk down a steep set of stairs like this?

•Would you cut the roof above and lift the animals out that way in a sling?

•If you choose to make a ramp, what would you make it out of?

Dr. Tomas and Dr. Rebecca Gimenez

www.TLAER.ORG

Join the Facebook Group “Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue”

[email protected] and

[email protected] E-Mail

®

Tomas and Rebecca are the co-owners of a corporation they call Technical Large Animal

Emergency Rescue, Inc. (TLAER™)

The best way to interact with them is to join the FACEBOOK group for TLAER online – either

by going to the www.TLAER.org TLAER.org website homepage and clicking on the JOIN

FACEBOOK GROUP logo, or searching for Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue on

Facebook.

Alternatively – send them an email

TOMAS - [email protected]

REBECCA – [email protected]

They enjoy sharing pictures, videos and your stories of rescues – successful or not. That is how

we all learn.

The name and logo for TLAER™ are copyrighted and registered trademarks.

This presentation is copyrighted 2010 , 2011 and 2012.




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