When you come in and there is something different about your horse, questions run through your mind. What is wrong? How serious is this? Should I call the vet? It is a change in your horse's behavior that tells you something is wrong but may not tell you whether it is serious or not. Once illness is suspected, using vital signs may give a clue as to cause and the seriousness of the illness. Monitoring demeanor, temperature, pulse, and respiration is not only important diagnostically, but also for monitoring improvement or worsening of the illness. This article discusses how to take the vital signs, normal values, and assessing the seriousness of a sick horse.

Diseases can be divided into 2 types: those that just effect a single organ system of the body and those that have a systemic effect. Local signs are things like a cough, snotty nose, diarrhea, lameness. Signs of systemic involvement or serious disease are changes in the vital signs and include depression, remarkable pain, fever, and elevated heart or respiratory rate. For instance a horse with a cough or snotty nose that does not have a fever and bright and retains his appetite has a local disease problem. Or perhaps there is diarrhea without other signs, a local problem again. On the other hand you might have systemic signs of depression or fever without localizing signs. In general, diseases that don't have systemic involvement are not an emergency though there are exceptions. Rapidly worsening local signs should be considered an exception and when is doubt contact your veterinarian immediately and talk it over with him.