Fear of Injections

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humph

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My husband has lent me his horse for the summer and I'd arranged for the vet to come out and rasp his teeth (horse not husband) and warned that he may need sedating because he needs sedating to clip.

My husband had him at a hunting yard before so I had no involvement and don't know how he reacted when sedated before.

Anyway, he was absolutely terrified and reared up and struck out when the vet came near with the needle and yet would let her stroke him when the needle wasn't there. She decided to jab him in the muscle instead of the vein and when she got the needle in he whipped around and kicked her right on the hip. Poor girl was in agony - she's going to get checked over by the hospital and I sincerely hope she's ok. Obviously we never got any sedative into him so didn't rasp his teeth.

Firstly, he's a very kind and gentle horse and I am 100% certain that this was out of sheer terror rather than malice.

I would love advice on how to teach him to overcome this fear. The vet said they could put him in stocks at the clinic but I think this might just worsten his fear. Could we give him oral sedative?

Any advice would be massively appreciated.
 
I would have given him an oral sedative like ACP or sedalin (which I think is the same thing). My horse can spot a wormer coming a mile off, its bizarre how they pick up on things. Ask your vet to supply you with one, I ony need to give my horse 3 clicks of the sedalin and thats sufficient to 'dull' him - he weighs approx 600 KG.
 
Thanks applecart, do you reckon the sedalin/acp would be enough to then rasp his teeth or would you then give the injected sedative, once he'd been calmed by the oral sedative?
 
My pony is EXACTLY the same. ACP/sedalin made no difference whatsoever. Neither did twitching etc.

The only way we can get a needle near him is to have him in stocks or in a lorry/trailer. Then with his head in a deep bucket of food and or blind floded. He still kicks off a bit, but everyone is safe and that matters more than anything else.

Did the vet try doing his teeth at all awake? Or immediately inject? ACP may be enough, worth a try, but otherwsie I'd try a lorry/trailer or the stocks.
 
yup we tried it without sedative to start off with but he wouldn't let us get near him with the mask so we decided pretty quickly that sedation was the only answer.

Maybe stocks will be the answer, did your pony not get fearful of the stocks though?

He's brilliant to load but he's a big 17hh ISH so doesn't fit tightly enough into the lorry for it to be safe if he were to kick/strike out but our vet clinic is only 1/2 a mile away so reckon we can whizz up to their stocks as easily as we can put him in the lorry. Also I really dont' want to teach him to be scared of loading because he's such an angel about travelling.
 
I've never used the stocks, we do it on the trailer cause we now have a "routine". We only inject him when it's absolutely necessary, he has his yearly flu and tet in the trailer in his bum. Recently he's been unwell and has had to have blood tests. He loads himself, and has had to have 4 tests in 3 weeks, but hasn't effected him loading. At the end of the day, it's needs must, it's our only choice.

He does do little rears and kick outs in the trailer, but he's padded up and hasn't done himself any damage. His behanviour is a million times better in there I think because he's sensible and knows it's not gonna get him anywhere.
 
Mine has ACP gel (4- 5 mls) sometimes more if not coprative!! which is most of the time (she is 15.2 tb) she has this before the vet arrives to give an IV injection IM are not quite as bad as you can kind of stab her and hope for the best although theses usually take a few attempts!
 
We had a big mare who was the exact same when it came to injections.. she just went mad.. sedaline didnt make a bit of difference to her at all.. i used a whole tube on her on vets instructions and she wasnt up or down! some horses just fight thro it..
 
poor horse - i know exactly how he feels as i was terrified of the dentist too, for ever since i can remember until a couple of years ago....ok, my advic e, for what it is worth, is to get him to overcome the fear. If he doesn't, he will always need sedation and that may not always be possible...
My own horse was also scared of the dentist, possibly because he could sense my fear, who knows, our other horses have always been ok, but my own riding horse has always been very bad, dangerous in fact, and got worse over the years. Anyhow, we've now been having a really good EDT for a number of years who listened to the probs and said he would try, which he did. He didn't get cross or aggresive with him (as every one else had done, especially the vet) but laughed at him, just doing a little bit then backing off, then a little more, always giving him a chance to calm. So very different, and it is totally down to the attitude of my fantastic EDT. Believe it or not I was going thru the same thing myself (but not with the EDT!). I have always had to have IV when going to the dentist, getting larger and larger doses as I grew older, and never getting rid of the fear, just masking it with the IV (sedation). I found a new dentist who I felt really understood my fears and he very slowly and carefully helped me so that now I can actually go for treatment without that awful fear. So,. my advice is to call a few EDT's until you find one that is prepared to help and go from there. (My gelding wa every bit as bad as yours, he would also rear, pin his ears, bolt to the door etc as he was so scared). If you would like details of our EDT please PM.
 
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