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Re: [RC] Horse Won't Accept Syringe - Diane Trefethen
He might be a good candidate for the bit that is hollow and allows the handler to feed meds through the bit. I've seen them somewhere in vet supply catalogs, I think. If your horse takes a bit readily, this might be the solution. I would worry that the old adage "Bad money drives out good" might apply to using a "loaded" bit. Instead of his continuing to take the bit readily and thus getting a medication he needs, he might associate the bit with a continuous stream of bad-tasting meds and start reacting badly to that too. As previously suggested, putting a treat in the syringe will accomplish your goal of eliminating the problem. How long it takes will depend on how deeply ingrained your horse's expectation is of something bad being in the syringe and how able he is to accept new ideas. When a horse associates a given situation or item with unpleasantness, that horse will always try to evade the stimulus, unless he is given a different, overriding association. "Desensitization" is the process of replacing one association with another, NOT just trying to force him to do what we want by using baby steps. If your horse is afraid of flapping blankets, and you stand a safe distance away (from the horse's perspective), flap the blanket, and then try to walk up to him with it, even speaking gently and reassuringly, unless he REALLY loves the sound of your voice, you will never get him to not behave badly with a flapping blanket. On the other hand, if after flapping the blanket, you drop it, and then give him something he likes (might be just your voice), over time - decreasing the distance, taking longer and longer to drop the blanket, leaving less and less time between the flapping and the "something he likes" - the new association will gradually override his original association (whatever it was) and he will start to see a flapping blanket as a harbinger to "something he likes. The key is the replacement, not just the small steps. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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