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Re: [RC] needle shy horse - Susan GarlinghouseAlong with what Heidi said, speed and a diabolical air of innocence is everything in injecting a needle-shy horse. You can remove the needle from the syringe, hold it firmly between two fingers and just slap it into the pecs of the horse. If they jump, fine. Step back and let them. If you use a 1 1/2" 20 gauge needle, it won't fall out if you inserted it all the way to the hub. Once they settle down, attach the syringe and inject it *quickly*. You don't need to mess with pre-swabbing with alcohol (which is 99.9% for the owner's benefit, anyway), if the horse is really filthy, then brush him down or wait until after a bath. Local topical anesthetics IMO just make the horse suspicious that something is about to happen, and owner anticipation is usually the big giveaway, as Heidi said. JUST DO IT. Susan G ----- Original Message ----- From: "Simms, Judith" <JSIMMS@xxxxxxx> To: "'Heidi Smith'" <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Carol Stiles" <cstiles@xxxxxxxxxx>; <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 1:28 PM Subject: RE: [RC] needle shy horse I certainly agree with all you said here. I have tried and gotten to b and c. Have also tried twitches, lip chains, putting her in the v of a borad fence and a gate with stalls behind her. All is well until she feels the needle penetrate the skin. Any suggestions along the lines of a topical anesthetic? Oral sedative like you do for cats before a car ride? Otherwise, I'm down to calling the zoo for a dart gun. (I think I'm kidding here.) -----Original Message----- From: Heidi Smith [mailto:heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 8:14 AM To: Carol Stiles; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [RC] needle shy horse That works unless a) you have an open-format trailer, b) your horse is SO sensitive that he freaks and ends up astride of a divider, or c) your horse now associates the trailer with injections and refuses to load. (I have situation a, as do a great many folks, and I've personally observed both situations b and c.) I much prefer either a twitch or a lip chain (depending on which works on the particular horse--some do better with one or the other) or just snubbing such horses up in a stout corner and administering the injection from across a fence or a panel. But I've also found that in many cases, the needle-shyness comes from "operator anticipation"--I've had no trouble whatsoever with many horses over the years that the owners report to be needle-shy. OTOH, I do have a stallion that is needle-shy--but then he was pretty much a rescue case and was not even halterbroke until he was 14, and even at 23, he is still a little tweaky about some things (including twitches and lip chains), having been relatively untouched for so much of his life. Nonetheless, once snubbed, he knows he's been "had" and has to put up with whatever is being done. Likewise, he is enough of a "Wile-E Coyote" that I have a hunch if he ever got "hurt" in a horse trailer, he'd think twice about ever getting back in one. (As it is, he's pretty good about that.) He's a kind horse, but after 14 years of self-preservation without any human intervention, one can kind of understand why the little wheels in his brain turn the way they do. (Almost all of the rest of the horses on my place--50-some-odd--can be injected either IM or IV by a lone person if necessary, with the loose lead rope simply flopped over one arm.) Heidi ----- Original Message ----- From: Carol <mailto:cstiles@xxxxxxxxxx> Stiles To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 12:07 AM Subject: Re: [RC] needle shy horse I have a friend that puts her horses in the horse trailer to give them shots. They are totally restrained and can't go anywhere. It works, try it. Carol =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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