Safety related PSA

[JSwan]

Mudroom - thank you for pointing out that she gives clinics. Her piece was excellent.

I had hung my hat on an ARC course - but after going through chapter websites it looks like it might be difficult to reach all the foxhunters interested - without them having to drive a great distance.

Ajierene - thanks for reminding folks that they can restrict their gifts to a particular field office or overseas station.

We have a few choices depending on what our personal goal is (if we want or need a certification, or want advanced training).

An informal educational course, ARC courses, or wilderness survival courses. There is an ARC chapter that does offer a “survival” type course geared towards those far from help and without first aid supplies handy. There are also similar courses offered by outdoor organizations (survival).

Also - you can take the ARC courses on-line, but you have to then attend a course to be tested if you want your certification. So that is an option for those with scheduling conflicts or who prefer home study.

Can y’all do be a great favor and let me know what your preferences are? Perhaps give me a sense of how much time you can spare, if you prefer day or evening or weekend, what your budget is, if you’d like or need certification, and your general location (closest city/town). A PM is fine.

This isn’t limited to foxhunters. I’m just trying to figure out what sort of class is going to appeal to sportsmen or outdoor enthusiasts. And if I can say we’ve got large groups of people trainers may be more willing to travel a bit farther to teach us, or I may be able to arrange discounts.

Anyway - send me a pm or reply here - and thanks for all the feedback and suggestions.

[wateryglen]

I’m in!

I’m an RN and would be glad to help or speak or whatever. I bet we could get Tri County feeds in Marshall to let us use their meeting room. Or the Fauquier Hospital? I’m CERTAIN I could get some equestrian oriented docs to speak too. My particular interest is head injuries.
But it’s most important that we have food…:winkgrin:

I think maybe an evening presentation for say 2-3 hrs would be best. Maybe over a series. Like one night= orthopedic injuries another head/neck injuries, another back injuries…something like that? Maybe COTH can get us a place?

Since I’ve had ALL the injuries; I can be the crash dummy!!!

[Hunter_s_Rest]

1. Tri County is a natural, but then again so is National Sporting Library, Middleburg Community Center, comm. center of some sort in Warrenton, Leesburg, etc. I’d travel that far for this thing.
2. Not sure if I’d do multiple days/nights. I’d prefer 1 hour on basic first aid - spine, brain, bleeding, etc. Maybe another 1 hour to include horse vet care tips and maybe a quick simple survival skills thing. Then food. And drinks.
3. Needs to be free. Potluck, but free.
4. Certainly open to all. All, not just horsemen or foxhunters but all. I’d hope a couple horse husbands/moms/etc. would attend if that were the case.
5. I think perhaps someone could be there with a laptop and printer and get folks to give them vital info and type in/print out/maybe even laminate during the event. For that, I would pay. Maybe $5 for 3? Or $10 for 3?? One for your house, one for your barn, one for your truck?? I"d be ALL OVER having that. Maybe even sell little double sided stickies (4 packs) that you can use to stick them to your tack room door/trailer door, etc.
   Someone knows best what it would have on it, but basic - name, address, phone numbers, emergency contacts, basic directions/directives for horses/care. What else? Allergies, naturally, hospital preference, maybe, vet info, insureance info (basic), maybe where you ‘hide’ your keys (if in a park or something, I often take my keys out and lock my doors and hide my keys in an easy-to-find but not theft-worthy place. Doubt anyone could find them so easily, though.)
   I’m happy to help do this thing. JSwan you’re hereby elected as queen bee of this project. Watery Glen is your VP. I’m your worker bee.
   Tell us what to do and how to do it.
   Once we get this thing going we can post it on all boards, and I’d open it up to publicity in the local paper for ‘other’ sports, and perhaps some of you on other boards can post there. Plus of course tell all the hunts.

[Ajierene]

[QUOTE=Hunter’s Rest;4433508]

3. Needs to be free. Potluck, but free. [/QUOTE]

Keep in mind, the Red Cross classes cost money. At least $30. This pays for equipment and administration fees, such as making the cards and keeping track of who is certified (if you lose your card, you should be able to get a new one from your local office - at least you can in my area). In my area, this also includes rental fees to buildings/rooms.

Also, the CPR class itself is schedule for at least 5 hours and the First Aid class is about 4 hours. I would expect an entire day of learning. The classes may not take as long, depending on the class size and abilities of the participants.

You may be able to work something out with your local office, if you can have a venue donated, work out administrative issues, etc, you may be able to cut that fee down.

I am not sure about any survival organizations, I am only familiar with the Red Cross of my area.

[Hunter_s_Rest]

I don’t think I want full blown cpr but just a quick course from a professional nurse or doctor or EMT type who can give us BASIC information.
I think all those places listed will give us a free place to have a class. And I’m sure we can get no cost or low cost teacher.
I think that at-cost laminated emergency info cards would be a huge selling point.

[LexInVA]

Turns out LockeMeadows is a certified CPR instructor. Might be able to work something out with her though it’s gonna cost money to get official certification and that is something you MUST have for legal and insurance liability purposes.

[JSwan]

I don’t mean to be a party pooper but free first aid training is unrealistic.

Whether it’s cost for the facility, event coverage, fee or costs for the speaker/trainer… there is just going to be some sort of cost involved.

For everyone’s sake it’s important the instructor be qualified to teach as well.

Since the only people who have responded appear to be in the Piedmont/NoVa area I’ll focus on us and not the rest of the state.

Locating a facility is not a problem.

[x-rab]

Can’t Promise Anything

But the Hubby has another cousin who is a CCR, ICU trained nurse who rides. I can try to see if she would be willing to do a class for us. With Wateryglen we could probably cover all the bases.

Thanks for the idea about the Emergency Information in the trailer idea. We just bought a trailer and I will get the emergency info posted next time we go out.

[Fox_Wood_Farm]

Be prepared! I must have been a boy scout in a former life…

I spend many hours riding alone - schooling and trail riding. Years ago, I worried about what might happen to my horses if we ever got separated. (Not worried about me!) I keep a list of personal contact info inside a leather luggage tag - the kind that you can snap closed over the info. Put the tag on a double snap and snap it on a saddle dee. My info starts out like this… If you find this on a gray horse, his name is, etc… If you find this on a brown horse, his name is, etc… And then proceed to list my name, home and cell numbers, hubby’s cell, friend’s cell, Vet and Farrier names and numbers. I also have a description of my truck and trailer and license plates. And of course my home address (my horses live at home - add boarding barn to the list if applicable). I also squish my hunting licenses in the tag holder. And the snap is also a handy place to put my local trail system ID tag and a key for all the gates in our hunting country. Having it on a snap makes it very easy to move from one saddle to another.

And I second the comments about USRider - I have all that info in my trailer. When I am hunting or riding with others, I make sure somebody knows where I stash the truck keys. Can’t do that when I am off alone. Thank God I have never needed any of this.

Oh - and riding alone, I always take my cell and always on ME, not in the sandwich case attached to the saddle! That’s reserved for flasks, anyway, plus pen sized antibiotic goo and benadryl! And this time of year, always ride out wearing a cheap blaze orange vest so the local hunters don’t mistake me for a deer…

You can never be “too safe”…

[Simbalism]

I like the idea of putting this info in the trailer. I keep thinking I need to do that, just haven’t gotten around to it. That will be my project for this week. I already have one of the arm band pockets that eventers wear with contact/emergency info in it that I wear when I ride. I need to put a copy of my insurance card and driver’s license in it as those are things that would be needed to obtain treatment at a hospital. I am going to go fox hunting for the first time at the end of the month. Does anyone carry a first aid kit while hunting? Would it be a faux pas to wear a small fanny pack with first aid stuff? Everyone that I ride with(riding club) knows I carry a basic first aid kit while riding. I have a more extensive kit that will go in saddle bags. It sounds like your seminar would be a good idea.

[x-rab]

She Will Do It

If we are interested, Hubby’s cousin will teach us the basic first aid we would need in the field. If we tell her what we are interested in covering she will teach us. Since she rides, she has a good idea about what we would need to know.

I have an excellent first aid kit in my truck. I keep it there and probably need to freshen up some items.

[JSwan]

Y’all are super.

I’m getting a sense that we prefer an informal course that will not result in certification, but will give us some basic tools. Tailored to the types of situations encountered in the hunt field.

Food and drinks

Here’s another idea - all y’all tell me what you think.

A separate lecture, given on the same day, by a local vet - how to respond to an equine emergency in the hunt field. Here’s the kicker - using what we have available in the field - not what we’d have in the barn or trailer.

Basically this first aid for horse and rider session could be called - 101 uses for a Stock Tie.

So - a short am session, lunch, and a short pm session. Like - 9-11 and 12-2. On a Sunday. Something like that.

Good? Bad? Indifferent?

ETA - this would NOT be limited to foxhunters, of course. And we might need to block out some time for a Q&A after a presentation.

[x-rab]

Works for Me

Just get me some dates and I will see of Glorianne can do it then.

[Hunter_s_Rest]

I LOVE the ideas JSwan. Not in love with the morning/afternoon thing, but I suppose I’d go with the multitudes if that’s the popular vote. I’d prefer, say, 5-6:30 pm thing about people first aid, 7-9 on horse first aid. Dinner break between. Or something. Unless we wait until a January Sunday in which case morning + afternoon is fine.

[Painted_Wings]

ICE form

Is this the form you are talking about?

http://www.usrider.org/images/emergency_responders.pdf

Seems like more info than that might be appropriate.

I have frequently wondered about US rider. Has anyone tested it? How is their service? I have AAA bvut I know that doesn’t do me any good in the case of truck and trailer breakdown. They’ll take care of the truck but the trailer/horses are on their own.

Our hunt has offered some first aid courses specifically aimed at rider injuries. We had a doctor from a local ER give the course. We also had one of the members of the hunt who is a doctor procure some first aid equipment specific to what our needs might be.

[Hunter_s_Rest]

Well, duh, you guys – Virginia Coooperative Extension is offering EXACTLY THIS COURSE on Nov. 14 in Front Royal. Why has there been no publicity???
It’s in the October Va. horse journal.
It is an all-day thing - 8 am - 5 pm, but it has certified and non certified tracks. Entitled First Aid and CPR for horse and rider.
$25 and $50.
540-635-4549. Crystal Smith.
Still, I’d sort of like a 3 hour course, not an all day thing. Anybody know Crystal and want to ask if we could do it in Warrenton, too??

[Grasshopper]

@Painted Wings;4437733

I have frequently wondered about US rider. Has anyone tested it? How is their service? I have AAA bvut I know that doesn’t do me any good in the case of truck and trailer breakdown. They’ll take care of the truck but the trailer/horses are on their own.

Just an aside to PW–I’ve had to use them a couple of times and their service has been fantastic–friendly and prompt, in my experience. The great thing is they don’t cost any more than AAA, if I recall correctly, and they don’t limit their coverage to trucks/trailers. You may not get the kinds of discounts you can get through AAA, but the last time AAA did me any good in that regard was a discount on a Penske truck for a cross-country move…

[JSwan]

HR - there is also supposed to be such a short clinic at the Middleburg Community Center sometime this month or next. Check your Middleburg Life.

I receive extension newsletters and that safety clinic was not advertised. I have no idea why.

ETA - forgot to add this nifty little item that looks like it will fit in your sandwich case. http://www.quikclot.com/ That and a nice big traditional 4 fold stock tie is just the ticket. I think Deltawave told the BB about this product last summer. (she’s a physician)

[Badger]

PW: I have used US Riders several times and been very happy with their service. I haul long distances by myself, and the service gives me piece of mind. They have also helped me out close to home. After hearing about the service from me, many of my friends have signed up as well, and several have needed it and been very pleased with it.

[x-rab]

Thanks JS

thanks for the quick clot link. Since my husband is on Plavix for life, those are very handy things to have around. I have ordered several.