Had the vet today, and I only just survived!

Fools Motto

Fools Motto

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and so did the vet!!
Only for a 'simple' annual jab.

My mare HATES vets.
I had pre-warned the vet. Told her I wasn't prepared to allow both vet and horse in the stable due to mares tendency to squash to kill. So outside holding it was.
Vet was brilliant, knew to be quick. Mare whipped round, nearly sent us all flying, and hind leg got some forward reach too!
After I couldn't even pat/stroke/think about touching her, she was giving me evil eyes, and threatening a sideways kick or push through me. Grumpy bitch!
So, looking at her eyes, listening to her heart was clearly out. (managed that only once 2 years ago).
Had a discussion about how on earth the vet would be able to put her to sleep when the time comes, it would not be using any needles thats for sure. Vet even wrote her behaviour on her notes, probably warning all other vets of the dangers!!
Have to say, I HAD HOPED she would be a bit better behaved....

She is 18 years old, and I've had her 14 years, and apart from 2 years ago when she didn't attempt to kill us, she has always been like this!!

Anyone else got a horse similar?
 
Oh dear, I feel for you! I've been lucky in that my first pony doesn't notice injections and just thinks it's nice that someone has come to visit him!
Big horse winces when he has his injections, really screws his eyes up poor lad, breaks my heart!
 
Oh yes, My Angel took two vets to sedate her for her teeth and even then she would have take them on. The farrier she would take on we had her in a muzzle for a long time so she couldn't bite him, but when we had her shoes off, he could anything with her. But she did suffer from sweet itch very very badly and you couldn't get anywhere near her with lotions of any sort, so she had several Boett rugs which did work for a long time until I had an invasion of traveller boys and their ferrits and dogs and they use to set the dogs onto my mares and because she was rugged up she started sweating very badly which made the sweet itch even worse and that is when she started to attack me if I tried to help her and that is when I decided PTS. I'd owned her for nearly 12 years and she's still remembered at the vets and they no longer do horses.
 
My mare is very needle phobic. I always twitch her which helps a lot, but I wouldn't' trust to hold her outside whilst she had an injection, for me a stable is definitely safer!
 
She has been known to try to get you with front legs, mow over you or no joke kneel on you. I liken her to a bull elephant in must! If I've got space, I've got space to run!!
 
Oh dear! Glad you are all ok!

Mine is needle phobic, so have done some work imitating i/v and i/m injections so he doesn't kick our heads in! Mind you, I hate needles too, 4 Diazepam did nothing for me last time I needed a blood sample taken. I haven't tried kicking out at the GP yet though! ;)
 
My old pony took three trips from the vet to sedate him as they kept giving up!! Also took three months to recover from a bad abscess as no one was allowed near it even when we finally sedated him! But in hindsight they were a bad vets I don't use them anymore
 
Jo1987 said:
Oh dear, I feel for you! I've been lucky in that my first pony doesn't notice injections and just thinks it's nice that someone has come to visit him!
Big horse winces when he has his injections, really screws his eyes up poor lad, breaks my heart!
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Haha made me laugh! "just thinks it's nice that someone comes to visit him" bless! My boy also has the same thoughts!
 
I endurance rode for years, and endurance horeses get vetted by vets at endurance rides and often go to sleep. But if the same vet shows up at home to do something, I got a totally different reaction from the horse.

Mine are generally ok, but we do get buggy eyes and a very tense necks which have been known to bend needles.

The one who is not an endurance horse is like Jo1987's boy - she just loves it if anyoneis paying attention to her. Needles or not.
 
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My little fellow hates injections too One vet walked passed him patted his bum and the injection was in before he knew it and the vet was out of the way Never seen it done like that before but was quite impressed. Mostly though it is just a question of speed faffing results in broken bones
 
Our wee miniature horse x is terrified of injections too, Alistair at Oakhill in lancs uses the pat in the bum trick too, first time we'd ever seen it done, he told us to lead him into his stable and he stood at the doorway and "patted" him on the way in and no rearing and stressing out.we are no longer in lancs so can't use him but we now found an amazing female vet who is so quick with injections they don't even know they've had it done!

You would think controlling a mini horse x would be easy but I'd much rather have something 17.2hh mucking about!
 
I have two that don't do vets. My mare who has had a great deal of medical treatment and is only 5 can't stand needles. She had to have injection on Monday. Luckly the vet knows and went in patted her and did it before she had a chance to know what he was up to. My big ID hates the vet and we have to be careful as he is so big. I think he had a bad time when he was younger and he has to be sedated for clipping. He is so good at everything else. I just wish I could clip him with out it.
 
My old mare is the exact opposite, she could be completely evil to handle at all times and would run at you and rear up and strike out in the field regardless of which horse you were trying to catch. The vet arrives and she turns into a calm, loving creature who adores the attention even if it means having a needle in her. She stands with her nose resting on the vet and closing her eyes gently. She is 21 now and is a much easier horse to handle day to day but she still can be a bit of a handful in the field and you really have to be aware of her when catching any of the others.
 
My horse is one of the most laid back souls I have met.

That was until the vet came near her to look at her teeth and she went to full on box him. She also did the same first time we went to clip her. I had never ever seen her do it, nor has she ever tried to do it again. No idea what caused it, but she was NOT happy!

Now she just sees clipping as a gentle massage, and the vet visits means another pocket to raid!
 
I think this is a situation where twitching is very useful. We had a cob here that would try to kill the vet and anyone aiding and abetting! Twitching him was the only solution and worked really well. It doesn't work on all horses though.
 
windand rain said:
My little fellow hates injections too One vet walked passed him patted his bum and the injection was in before he knew it and the vet was out of the way Never seen it done like that before but was quite impressed. Mostly though it is just a question of speed faffing results in broken bones
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Yes, I've seen a vet do it like that with a mare that was less than friendly towards vets. My mare was as good as gold but one sight of her regular vet and she would find an excuse to leave the vicinity! On several occasions I had to give her a course of penecillin and she used to give me such a look when I rammed the needle in. Its so much easier to do someone else's furry bottom!
 
Using Dormosedan oral sedation might help, but horse needs not to see vet hanging around with the needle whilst waiting for it to take effect. If it can be applied successfully under the tongue and the horse's adrenaline stays nice and low because everthing is being kept calm, it can often work better than sedalin.
 
Yes my mare was like that it was horrible. She was pts last week using a needle, she had three tubes of Domosedan beforehand but I believe was still a nightmare. I didn't stay for the last part Moomin1 very kindly did the honours for me and I will be forever grateful
 
We had a 13hh pony that was like this.

She was originally a rescue pony, and in the early days we used to have to have 4 or 5 people on hand for boxing her in against a wall for annual injections.

We owned her for nearly 35 years and she did mellow with age. We discovered 3 things that helped:

1) Female Vets only!
2) No disinfectant or anything smelly, we tried to get the Vet first call when her clothes were clean too!
3) Everyone had to stand on the same side and talk constantly so she could always see and hear them. If anyone disappeared or went quiet, the pony would freak out.

We had a couple of abscesses dug out to many choruses of Baa Baa Black sheep. Fortunately the Vet was up for anything which made her life easier!
This final trick was also the only way to get her to load into a trailer without a fight, got some funny looks at shows I can tell you!
 
webble said:
Yes my mare was like that it was horrible. She was pts last week using a needle, she had three tubes of Domosedan beforehand but I believe was still a nightmare. I didn't stay for the last part Moomin1 very kindly did the honours for me and I will be forever grateful
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Oh no. I am so sorry for your loss. That was very good of Moomin to help you. x
 
We have a horse at the yard I used to work who was terrified, he used to get loaded in the lorry before the vet arrived and done in there. He went on the lorry a lot so didn't associate it with unpleasantness.
 
Goodness.. Reading this makes my heart stop. I only had my first horse two weeks when he needed a month of treatment and injections for Piroplasmosis. The Spanish vet gave the first one , showings me how to do it.... Then I gave the rest, total novice! :0 intramuscular injections into the neck, and luckily my naughty bolshy gelding wa very well behaved. I did draw the line when the vet tried to show me how to do IV injections... I aint that stupid!
 
webble said:
Yes my mare was like that it was horrible. She was pts last week using a needle, she had three tubes of Domosedan beforehand but I believe was still a nightmare. I didn't stay for the last part Moomin1 very kindly did the honours for me and I will be forever grateful
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Sorry to hear about M. x
 
MDB said:
Goodness.. Reading this makes my heart stop. I only had my first horse two weeks when he needed a month of treatment and injections for Piroplasmosis. The Spanish vet gave the first one , showings me how to do it.... Then I gave the rest, total novice! :0 intramuscular injections into the neck, and luckily my naughty bolshy gelding wa very well behaved. I did draw the line when the vet tried to show me how to do IV injections... I aint that stupid!
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Its illegal for anyone other than a vet to give IV jabs in the UK - too much can go wrong - flebitis for a start.
 
My little HaffieXFjord pony is the sweetest, kindest soul ever ..... unless a vet approaches with a needle or someone else with clippers!
He will rear and strike out and he really means it - he is absolutely terrified by something that happened in his past.
Recently I had to have him clipped right out for health reasons, so I had to give him a strong oral sedation BEFORE the vet arrived. He was snoring gently when she went to pop the needle in to sedate him properly, and he still reared and struck out! :eek:
Its a question of work in progress, trying to show him its nothing to fear!
 
fatpiggy said:
Its illegal for anyone other than a vet to give IV jabs in the UK - too much can go wrong - flebitis for a start.
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Quite.. Or kill with an air embolism. I am used to sticking needles in people, but I was quite surprised with the laid back approach here in Spain. Obviously it isn't illegal here. Dont get me wrong, my vets are great, they are very knowledgeable and I trust them totally, but they even left me with plenty atropine injections to give immediately to my gelding in case of adverse reaction... Geez!!!
 
MDB said:
Quite.. Or kill with an air embolism. I am used to sticking needles in people, but I was quite surprised with the laid back approach here in Spain. Obviously it isn't illegal here. Dont get me wrong, my vets are great, they are very knowledgeable and I trust them totally, but they even left me with plenty atropine injections to give immediately to my gelding in case of adverse reaction... Geez!!!
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Cripes! Perhaps your knowledge was obvious to them or you exclude calm confidence, pretty sure no one would trust me with a needle. Well done you for coping with it!

EDIT, I exclude confidence with needles I was suggesting you might exude it!
 
fatpiggy said:
Its illegal for anyone other than a vet to give IV jabs in the UK - too much can go wrong - flebitis for a start.
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Not quite. It is illegal for anyone other than a vet to administer treatment via IV injection but there are other agencies/people who can legally pts an animal via IV injection.
 
webble said:
Yes my mare was like that it was horrible. She was pts last week using a needle, she had three tubes of Domosedan beforehand but I believe was still a nightmare. I didn't stay for the last part Moomin1 very kindly did the honours for me and I will be forever grateful
Click to expand...

I was glad I could help. :-)
 
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