2011 

ICE YOUR CELL PHONE FOR LIFE

Protect yourself and your horse and ICE your cell phone, right now. I C E stands for In Case of Emergency. ICE is an international designation that Emergency Medical Technicians and Emergency Responders will look for on your personal cell phone if you are injured and unable to speak, or respond to questions, as a result of any type of accident or debilitating illness.

Take a few minutes to make the entries: ICE in your cell phone for yourself, and ICE HORSE for your horses. In the first entry, after entering the word: ICE, list the person’s name and phone number whom you would have emergency care takers call and notify in case you are found injured or unconscious. Do the same with the name and phone number of your veterinarian or the person you would want contacted to make decisions about your horse(s).

EquiMedic USA reminds all horse owners that being prepared is the best method of accident prevention; much of that having to do with possessing the right mentality and mind set. When you have taken the time to be prepared, you have the inevitable and worse case scenario in your mind, and you are more likely to stay in the preventive mode.

Prevention and preparedness is your best insurance against having accidents. “We hope that your EquiMedic USA equine first aid kit is your best insurance against ever having to use it,” is the statement that goes out with all of this company’s equine first aid kits, and is a company motto (www.equimedic.com) and mission statement.

Emergency care givers have been trained to search in the cell phones of accident victims for the entry I C E, to find the appropriate family, friends or personal medical advisors to notify and gather important medical information. ICE entered in your cell phone with your own personal entries, could easily save your life. The ability to notify and gather the necessary medical information can make the difference in time and being able to administer necessary medical attention, and with the necessary permission to do so.

If you are in an accident while traveling with your horses, the situation compounds dramatically. You might be injured, and your horses might be just fine, but will need attention while you are being cared for. The worst possible scenario might find you and your horses both needing emergency care. Be sure that you have planned to appropriately notify your emergency care takers of whom to contact for both you and your horses(s), by entering ICE and ICE HORSE in your personal cell phone. And, be sure your contact people know that they are to serve you as such, and have the necessary medical and veterinary information and legal ability to do so on you on your behalf. 

If you need to have more than one entry in your cell phone for emergency contacts, just add numerical numbers to each necessary ICE entry. The simple entries, ICE and ICE HORSE, will appear first. Successive entries such as ICE 2, ICE 3, or ICE HORSE 2, ICE HORSE 3, etc., will show up in that order after the primary entry, and more than one contact can be called on your behalf. Your primary contact might not be available by phone, or you might want to have more than one phone number entry for that same person, or have several people listed, so multiple entries are a great idea. 

If you travel the nation’s roads at all with your horses in tow, either near home or far away, also consider having additional official paperwork with you. Beyond having the obvious legal documents like health certificates and Coggins papers, consider also carrying a Power of Attorney with those necessary papers.

Your  P.A. document will usually need to be notarized, and when properly filled out, gives another party or person of your choice the legal ability to make decisions for and about you and your horses. This is essential if you are injured or sick and unable to make these decisions. 

Additional paperwork which is also wise to carry while traveling is in-depth information about each horse that you haul, including names, ages, feeding information, known allergies, medical background, and veterinarian and insurance contact information. Useful Limited Power of Attorney and Notice to Emergency Responders information forms can be obtained from USRider Equestrian Motor Plan (www.usrider.org) and EquiMedic USA (equine first aid kits: www.equimedic.com).

EquiMedic USA, the premier manufacturer of a whole array of horse and rider first aid kits, advises you to be prepared for all types of emergencies and possible accident scenarios by planning now rather than later. Cell phones have become our primary form of communication from phone calls, to messaging, to music and even as cameras and video recorders.

We keep our cell phones on us, near us, and close at all times no matter what we are doing. Plan to have your cell phone do the ultimate task for you: save your life, and possibly that of your horse as well. Take a few minutes and enter your vital I C E information on your own cell phone now.