Do An Annual First Aid Kit Inventory

With each new year, make your equine first aid kit a priority for refreshing. Thoroughly inventory your barn, trailer, and trail riding kits. Among your New Year resolutions, make your horse kits a regular annual inspection detail. With a fresh year of campaigning your horse in your favorite disciplines, you will not want to be caught short on emergency supplies.

 Know what is in each of your horse first aid kits and what you might want to add for the coming year. Will you want to upgrade any of your kit contents? Will this be the year that you will want to order a stethoscope or an extra digital thermometer? You’ve operated for three years now without a first aid book, so consider that as an important upgrade to your tools for keeping your horses safe.

 Knock all of the surface dust off of those kits first and then bring them into the house, garage, or office to begin your annual inventory. Empty those kit bags out entirely, being sure to check all of those sections and pockets. Then throw your kit bags right into the washing machine. They are fully machine-washable and dryable in your home laundry equipment. You will be amazed at how they will clean up and come out looking like new.

 Hopefully you will still have the labeled zip locks that your smaller supplies arrived in to help you establish what you are out of and what you are short-handed on in each kit. Start making a list of what you will need to reorder from EquiMedic USA, the world leader in Equine First Aid Kits.

 Decide if reordering the same number of each item will be enough to possibly get you through to this same time next year when you do your next annual inventory. You can always re-stock at any time of the year on EquiMedic’s user friendly web site: www.equimedic.com if you miss judge your needs now.

 If you use more than the normal supply of certain items then figure on possibly ordering more of those at this time. Since emergencies are by their nature unexpected hazard events, it’s hard to know what the future may hold in terms of your needs. But you do know that you don’t want to tempt fate and be caught short of needed supplies when an emergency does strike one of your horses.

The old saying: “Better to Be Safe Than Sorry” is a perfect adage when it comes to first aid kits. In the long run, your first aid kit supplies are a minimal cost compared to the potential cost of not having those supplies at the ready.

 More than likely you have family members or perhaps even employees who are also using products from your kits, so it becomes very difficult over a year period of time to know for sure what is in each kit and what will be ready to service your needs. So on at least an annual basis, surveying your products is a must.

 Check over your jars and bottles of supplies and medications to make sure that they aren’t nearly empty. Look inside and make sure that your products haven’t been compromised by dirt and foreign objects. You will need your supplies to be virulent and effective when you need to use them so be certain they haven’t been contaminated by debris.

 Shelf-life can become a problem with some medications, and even cleansing products. At this annual inventory be sure to look up the “out-of-date” notations on each item. Some items might last a short while after expiration dates, but you shouldn’t count on medications being effective when they are beyond expiration.

 Inspect your equipment for wear and tear, dirt, grime, rust, or any other reason why that tool wouldn’t continue to be useful in your first aid kit. Now would be a good time to clean and disinfect your equipment as well. Be sure to return the tools to their proper storage place in your kit, held readily available in the elastic loops of the main compartment of your kit bag.

 Pay particular attention to your wound care products. They will most likely be your most often used supplies. Depending upon the severity of the wound, dressings can get used up fast and might become depleted most easily.

 Make sure that you have all sizes of dressings in plentiful supply. Non-sterile dressings are very important and often used by the handful. Non-adherent dressings are also an important ingredient of your horse kit.

 Application tools are another item that will deplete in large numbers if you need to use your kit very often. These are important to the sanitary use of your medications and keeping your dressing clean.

 Lastly, check on your supply of syringes and hypodermic needles. If you are doing your own vaccinations or have had sick horses in the past year, you might need to replenish or restock your injection equipment. EquiMedic USA has increased the number of sizes of both syringes and needles in recent years, so take a look at additional options available in this department.

 Make sure that your equine first aid kits are up to date, clean, well-stocked, and ready to go. Don’t be caught in the coming riding season short of the essentials to be a responsible care taker of your horses. Invest in keeping your horse safe and his availability secured.