Comparison of recoveries from anesthesia of horses placed on a rapidly inflating-deflating air pillow or the floor of a padded stall.

This study compares the recovery rates of horses from anesthesia when placed on a standard padded stall floor versus a specially engineered inflating-deflating air pillow. Overall, the research found that horses using the air pillow had an extended resting period before attempting to get up, required fewer attempts to stand, and presented significantly better quality of standing.

Objective and Methodology

• The primary objective of this research paper was to explore the differences in horses recovering from anesthesia when placed in two different environments: a foam padded recovery stall (conventional method) or a recovery stall equipped with an inflating-deflating air pillow.
• The researchers conducted a prospective study over 37 months involving 409 horses that were undergoing surgical procedures.
• The placement of the horses (either on the conventional foam pad or the air pillow) was randomly decided.
• All the recovery processes were recorded on video and analyzed by an independent party. They documented times to first movement, attempts to achieve sternal recumbency (lying on the chest), successful standing, and quality of overall recovery.

Findings

• Horses placed on the air pillows had a notably lengthier rest period before trying to achieve sternal recumbency and attempting to stand, compared to those placed on the conventional foam pad.
• Once the air pillow was deflated, these horses required significantly fewer attempts to stand, and the quality of their standing was noticeably superior.
• Despite the variation in the time to attempt standing and the number of attempts, the overall quality of recovery did not show significant differences between the two groups.
• The two recovery systems, the air pillow, and padded floor stall, were deemed equally safe for the horses.

Conclusions

• The study found that the use of a rapidly inflating-deflating air pillow prolongs the recumbency period and improves the quality of standing post-anesthesia in horses.
• Despite the benefits seen in the air pillow group, no significant difference was observed in the overall recovery scores between the two groups, indicating that traditional padded stalls remain an effective method.