DISCLAIMER: These posts contain hints, tips and ideas from folks that have had some experiences dealing with this. It is NOT meant to be legal or medical advice here - just related experiences. Please consult with a reputable professional if necessary. Date: Tue, 04 Aug 1998 09:29:40 -0400 From: Cris May To: equinerescue@MyList.net Subject: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics A discussion of the basic "stuff" you will need to open a rescue should be helpful. We've already covered a few of these items when we discussed what the first aid kit should include. Now is a good time to expand on what a quarantine area should include as well. Basics will include: Guidelines Physical facilities (barn, land, fencing, housing) Feed Vets/Farriers/Dentists/Others Training for Rescue Operators Staffing Although insurance is a necessary basic I haven't included it here because it could be a class topic all by itself. Have I missed anything else you consider "basic" that we should include? The Maryland Dept. of Agriculture asked Days End (DEF) to formulate the following guidelines for use in licensing rescue facilities: A rescue facility ~ must have a veterinarian knowledgeable in the care of the animals rescued, who is willing to affiliate him or herself with the organization and work in conjunction with that facility. ~ must have an individual, in residence, who is veterinarian certified and has the ability to do emergency first aid and follow-up care, as necessary, on any rescued animals. ~ must have one or more areas designated that are suitable for isolation and/or quarantine purposes. ~ must have the capability to accommodate the individual feeding of all horses and/or animals entrusted to their care. ~ must maintain, and make available to an inspector, all records, including but not limited to surrender forms and/or bills of sale showing animal date of entry to that facility, any veterinarian care administered or recommended and/or care provided by that facility. ~ having horses and/or other animals "fostered" at other locations must advise the inspector of those locations and allow inspection of those properties, animals and records. ~ Any off-site foster care facility in use by a rescue facility must adhere to the same guidelines and regulations set forth for all rescue facilities. ~ The Board of Directors and/or individuals responsible for the care of rescued animals at the main rescue facility using off-site foster care facilities will be held responsible for all animals entrusted to the care of that foster care facility, regardless of the location of those animals. ~ must have adequate space and adequate fencing to accommodate the number of horses and/or animals in residence without unnecessary injury, and to permit adequate exercise. ~ The Board of Directors and/or the individual certified by a veterinarian will have the responsibility of providing adequate training for all volunteers entrusted with the care and maintenance of the rescued animals. ~ A rescue facility engaging in the rescue of stallions (unaltered males), must have appropriate facilities necessary to prohibit needless breeding and provide adequate care, maintenance and exercise. Cris May Days End Farm Horse Rescue (MD) ============================================================ To: equinerescue@MyList.net Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 15:53:46 -0400 Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics From: lisaviger@juno.com (Lisa A Remi-Viger) <<>~ must have an individual, in residence, who is veterinarian certified and has the ability to do emergency first aid and follow-up care, as necessary, on any rescued animals.>> Don't know if the class has started yet. Or if my questions will be answered. But how does one go about becoming veterinarian certified? I know we all don't have to go to vet school to open a rescue, so what are the requirements and is this something one does with a vet, at a class? Where and how? <<>~ must have a veterinarian knowledgeable in the care of the animals rescued, who is willing to affiliate him or herself with the organization and work in conjunction with that facility.>> How is this different than having a vet as usual. How must he be affiliated with the organization? We plan on asking ours to be on our board of directors. But what if one doesn't have a vet on their board? Lisa Viger Cricket (12 yo STB gelding) and Sadie (20+ ASB mare) "Men have forgotten this truth," said the Fox. "But you must remember. You are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." ============================================================ From: Janis.Comstock-Jones@ecr.net To: equinerescue@MyList.net Date: 9 Aug 1998 15:49:06 EDT Subject: EQ-ResQ: CLASS I also thought Crys's post was an overview. The list of what the rescue must have in her state was so comprehensive, I couldn't think of any comments or questions at that point. I could only add, now, that a contingency plan (what you do when anything goes wrong, not just disasters, but what about when you hit funding lulls or staffing problems) would be good to add. That, and money : ) Janis (SPHO--Ohio) http://www.ecr.net/gallifry/spho.htm ============================================================ From: Nonetfarm@aol.com Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 16:10:00 EDT To: equinerescue@MyList.net Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics 1) How do you find out what your state requires? 2) Would one of those "Be a Veterinary Assistant" correspondence courses be a good idea? Susan, TX ============================================================ From: "Bill Adams" To: Subject: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 15:23:26 -0400 One thing that I would definitely like a little more information on is this snippet: >A rescue facility >~ must have an individual, in residence, who is veterinarian certified and has the ability to do emergency first aid and follow-up care, as necessary, on any rescued animals. My question is, what does "veterinarian certified" mean? Does this mean you have a vet tech or a vet on the premises 24/7? If not, what are the requirements for being "vet certified"? Thanks, and I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. I will try to pay more attention next time! Elizabeth Adams Lexington KY ============================================================ From: BLRYSTROM@aol.com Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 18:50:42 EDT To: equinerescue@MyList.net, epona@concentric.net Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics In a message dated 8/9/98 2:36:04 PM Central Daylight Time, epona@concentric.net writes: << The Maryland Dept. of Agriculture asked Days End (DEF) to formulate the following guidelines for use in licensing rescue facilities: > >A rescue facility >~ must have >> chris, does this mean maryland licenses the rescue like it would a for profit business and that all rescues must meet these guidelines in order to receive their state incorportation? dawn ============================================================ Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 10:57:41 -0400 From: Cris May To: equinerescue@MyList.net Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics >>> "Bill Adams" 08/09 3:23 PM >>> IMy question is, what does "veterinarian certified" mean? Does this mean you have a vet tech or a vet on the premises 24/7? If not, what are the requirements for being "vet certified"? I have a call in to the farm for a more concrete answer but I know that "certified" doesn't mean "vet tech". What we do have 24/7 is someone who knows how to check for vitals, knows signs to be concerned about, can communicate well with the vet, and can easily handle any first aid a horse may need. The person would give shots, if instructed to by the vet; would also get a second opinion from someone on-site when possible before calling the vet. I have been the "vet certified" person on site from time to time and am by no means a tech. It probably means the vet is comfortable enough with my level of knowledge/ competence that she would instruct me to take actions over the phone that she might only do herself with other people. (That was an akward sentence - hope its clear.) Cris May Days End Farm Horse Rescue ============================================================ Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 12:21:19 -0400 From: Cris May To: equinerescue@MyList.net Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics >>> 08/09 4:10 PM >>> 1) How do you find out what your state requires? 2) Would one of those "Be a Veterinary Assistant" correspondence courses be a good idea? 1- Check with your state Dept. of Agriculture to see if there are any guidelines. My guess is that many states don't have any, in which case you could help them formulate some. 2- I've never seen the materials for one of these courses, but hands-on experience is vital in this case, and not something a correspondence course could offer. You can glean loads of info just from reading the "how to be your own vet" types of books or the more vet-oriented books such as the Merck Vet. Manual. Equus magazine also does a good job of covering equine health-care issues. Being able to apply the knowledge is just as important as having it. We once had an employee who had an excellent grasp of theoretical health care knowledge but lacked the personality/whatever to apply it properly without herself and/or the horse getting hurt in the process. So how do we get that knowledge? I got mine by observing and questioning as much as I could, both at a large public stable where I rode and at the rescue. I have a horse and so had to learn much of this stuff, and I also have vets who treat me as a partner in the health care of my horse and assume (because of my work at the rescue) that I have a fair amount of knowledge, but don't act like I'm an idiot if I ask them questions about the more technical stuff. Working at an animal shelter would be helpful too, since some of that knowledge is directly transferrable. Cris May Days End Farm Horse Rescue ============================================================ Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 12:35:57 -0400 From: Cris May To: equinerescue@MyList.net Subject: EQ-ResQ: CLASS Continues I will be glad to continue with my little section of Classes. I had intended to add more last week but got super-busy and it appeared there wasn't much interest. It's alot easier for me to respond to your specific questions than to sort of expound on theory. I am in the process of answering your questions about the "vet certification" issue, and I can see education issues evolving from that discussion. Let me know what else You want to know more about relating to last week's class. Once we've gotten those questions 'put to bed' we will go on to the Animal Control Officer/Court Cases section. Cris May Days End Farm Horse Rescue ============================================================ From: "Bill Adams" To: Subject: RE: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 21:31:47 -0400 Cris wrote: It probably means the vet is comfortable enough with my level of knowledge/ competence that she would instruct me to take actions over the phone that she might only do herself with other people. (That was an akward sentence - hope its clear.) Ah, yes. I understand now. This seems to be a common sense kind of thing as you would naturally want to have someone around all the time that can do these things. I just wasn't sure what "extra training" might be involved. I think the other standards for a rescue group also make a great deal of good sense. Thanks for sharing this information. Elizabeth Adams Lexington KY ============================================================ Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 13:52:21 -0400 From: Cris May To: equinerescue@MyList.net Subject: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics Clarification on a number of things from the first Basics discussions: Veterinarian-certified language: As I thought, it means having a person on the premises with whom the vet is comfortable working and giving instructions to. Being a vet tech wouldn't hurt but isn't necessary. This is generally the kind of knowledge you acquire by working with horses. Someone asked how "a vet knowledgeable in the care of the animals rescued ..." was different from having a vet as usual. Like people doctors, some vets specialize. Also like people drs., all vets are not equally competent. There are still vets who will tell owners "you can't keep weight on an old horse", vets who look for the easiest answer to a problem and never go beyond it, even when the animal does not respond to treatment. Also vets who will recommend treatments that do more for the lining of their wallet than the health of the horse. The vet(s) affiliated with your organization may or may not specialize in starvation cases, or founder, but must be willing to seek out the specialized knowledge they will need. They should be willing to conduct an occasional health care class, for your volunteers if for no one else. Basically, you want a vet who has the best interests of the horse, and the rescue org., at heart. And whose opinions match those of the org. If your org . says "we don't euthanize a horse just because it is old" and your vet routinely recommends euthanizing any animal over 20 years you have a problem. Having the vet on your board of directors usually assures you of their commitment to your org. and the board benefits from the vet's business experiences and specialized knowledge. Someone asked "what if you don't have a vet on your board?" Why not? is the important question. Have you just not asked? (Then ask!) Do you not have enough confidence in the vet you're using? (Get confident, or get another vet, if possible.) Is the vet too busy to attend board meetings? (Our vet misses probably 5 meetings out of 12 per year due to animal calls. But she reads the board minutes and is at the farm often enough to keep up. How flexible are you willing to be with attendance? Can you work around the "too busy" reason?). Having a vet on your board of directors is great if you can do it, but not an absolute necessity. Maryland doesn't license rescues. Days End does have a license, but it is because we have a riding lesson program and must be licensed for that. We are inspected (annually, I believe), as is every other boarding and lesson facility in the state. When I asked about this, it was indicated that after MD asked us to formulate the guidelines, the state kinda dropped the ball ... at this time it has nothing to do with receiving a state incorporation. There isn't any certification that goes with the CLASS stuff (is there Pat?). This is just a sharing of knowledge between those who have been there, done that and those who want to be there, do that. I believe Pat is collecting the pertinent posts into sections on the home page. Cris May Days End Farm Horse Rescue ============================================================ Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 11:14:57 -0700 To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: Pat Calloway Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: CLASS: Basics At 01:52 PM 8/12/98 -0400, Cris May wrote: > >There isn't any certification that goes with the CLASS stuff (is there Pat?). This is just a sharing of knowledge between those who have been there, done that and those who want to be there, do that. I believe Pat is collecting the pertinent posts into sections on the home page. <<< Heavens, no, there's no certification! And yes, the posts are on the Equine Rescue Mailing List Home Page under the archives of Digests and Class Notes. It's pretty much an informal sharing of experiences & knowledge. Take some, leave some, question some, talk to others outside the list about it and see what they say. ============================================================ Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 09:55:23 -0400 From: Cris May To: equinerescue@MyList.net Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: TERL has another question >>> 08/30 4:45 PM >>> We are wondering if it is a requirement that a rescue have it's own official "rescue stable" facilities as a headquarters.>>> Not a requirement as far as I know. And you certainly wouldn't be the only rescue to place horses in foster homes. I hope you've gotten input from some of the orgs. who operate that way. Cris May Days End Farm Horse Rescue ============================================================