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Odd reaction from dental work/sedative



Since we're talking dentistry, I had a bit of an odd thing happen when my horse had his annual floating two days ago.

He was sedated, and the floating went well.  My DVM is also a dental specialist, and had me feel his points, etc., and took care of them.

As coincidence would have it, the horses were scheduled to be shod later the same day.

My young horse got shod about 2-3 hours after the floating, so the sedative (and darned if I can remember what one she used, although I'd recall it if I heard it) had pretty well worn off.  However, when the farrier started pounding nails the horse began shaking and protesting (trying to take his foot away).  

Now, this horse can be a pill from time to time, particularly about his hind legs, but this was unusual behavior for him (particularly on a front foot).  I put a blanket on him, figuring he was chilled (the temperature had dropped a bit), and put a chain over his nose to better get his attention.  We even put a humane twitch on him.  Neither the chain, nor the twitch, nor our demands that he "stand up here!" made much difference.  And this is a guy who usually responds well to a quick, fair correction.  He continued to try to take his foot away, and shake/shiver, the entire time.  Of course, I felt terrible for our farrier (who took it all in stride, God bless him) but kept thinking that this seemed unusual for this horse.  After he was shod, he stopped shaking/shivering.  (He didn't really seem to be scared.)

I'm wondering if perhaps the sedative affected his muscle control, strength or balance.  I called my vet just to check, and while she said she had no experience with such a response, it was a relatively new drug, and she'd be sure to take note of it.

Anybody else ever have a similar experience?  (The drug was not Rompun or Ace or anything long-standing that I've heard of before.)

--Patti (hoping this won't happen again -- I like my farrier!)



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