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[RC] Horse won't accept Syringe - k s swigartJudy said: Does anyone have any suggestions to help him get over his fear of the "white plastic thing" and me to deal with this without either of us getting hurt. Right now he is suspicious when my hands head for his face and I'm worried that I have already pushed him too far. And Ed said: What you need is some Apple Sauce and a John Lyons approach. ... 6. When you can touch the horse on the lips with no reaction (this may take as long as a week or two), smear applesauce on the syringe and quickly deposit a bit between the lips. You can probably shorten this "use apple sauce" approach from the "as long as a week or two" to significantly less time if you blind fold the horse so he cannot see the "white plastic thing" that he is afraid of. It is the anticipation that is probably causing his greatest anxiety. If you blind fold him, you take away this anticipation. You say he is not afraid of having his head handled just if you have a syringe in your hand while coming at his mouth. Start out by getting him used to being blind folded. Put it on him and groom him while continuing to talk to him. Actually, most horses don't care about this at all. Then move towards grooming and/or handling his head, moving down his head towards his mouth. Then stick your thumb in his mouth and get him used to that. Put some honey or something sweet on your thumb if you want to, to make him like that. Then stick an empty syringe in his mouth (he probably won't be able to tell the difference) or put some honey or something sweet on it if you want to. Then put something sweet (applesauce works well because of its consistency) or anything that he likes the taste of. Usually this whole process can be achieved in less than 1/2 an hour, but take as long as you want. Repeat it daily so he gets used to it. If you want to get him so he can do it without being blindfolded, then you take off the blind fold right after you are done, then a little sooner, and a little sooner. However, you don't ever actually HAVE to get him to the point where it must be done without a blindfold. kat Orange County, Calif. p.s. This technique will only work if you expect it to work. Since, I suspect, that your horse is not afraid of the anticipation of the "little white thing" in your hand, but rather he is afraid of YOUR anticipation that he is going to react badly to the little white thing in your hand so you tense up in preparation for his bad reaction...and he sees that and reacts badly. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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