Sedalin Gel and clipping

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Horsekaren

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I am going to clip the boy this weekend so he will me cooler at the vets and so they wont have to clips patches of him.
I tried last weekend but the blades were not good enough to get through his coat, he was getting upset over his croup and trod on my foot :( I gave up and have brought some coarse blades to try again.

He is good to clip apart from his neck (and now his croup) i havnt ever used sedalin as we have managed with treats but this is the second time ive had my foot caught so i thought i would give it a go.

Does it actually keep them calm and still? how much would you give a 550kg horse to clip?

He throws his neck all over the place as soon as you go past his shoulder, he has locked and barged around the stable before also. Croup i am hoping was just the blades. Im sure its the sensation of them on his neck, he is either ticklish or just hates it. Would the sedalin stop him from throwing his head around and jerking so much?

Dont want to bother giving it to him if all it is going to do is make him clumsy and bargey. I have the tube left from his two day box rest stint so i'm not looking for other sedatives, its either Sedalin or nothing :)

Thanks
 
Sedalin is less predictable than domosedan in its effects in different horses - some it works very well, others not so much.

But as you have it you may as well give it. Allow a good 30 minutes of keeping him quiet after for it to have an effect.

How much have you got? I’d probably aim for 3-4 notches
 
Sedalin didnt touch the sides of my mare she's 600kg and i gave her 6ml (vets recommendation) so should have probably gone for a higher dosage, but its worth a shot if you've got a tube lying about.
 
ihatework said:
Sedalin is less predictable than domosedan in its effects in different horses - some it works very well, others not so much.

But as you have it you may as well give it. Allow a good 30 minutes of keeping him quiet after for it to have an effect.

How much have you got? I’d probably aim for 3-4 notches
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Ive got a full tube i think 10ml, i have no idea how he reacts to it as ive never given it to him.
Do you have any idea how long you would expect it to last for? (thinking to myself if he does need to be rested it might be a good to know if it works)
 
I would not clip, I would mention his reaction to clipping his neck to the vets, I would expect them to look at it during his works up as it may be relevant. In my experience he will still come home patchy as they will clip him much shorter than you will.
I would be concerned his reaction is pain related so would not want to put him through an 'extra' unnecessary session of clipping.
 
Mine was horrid when I tried clipping her with sedalin. I only tried it because I had it, and she was an anxious type back then, so I thought it might make the experience more pleasant for her for a first time, but in fact she hated the sensation of losing control(??) and fought it every second, making the whole thing near impossible and very stressful for both of us! She still hates being clipped, but stands like a rock because she prefers to behave. If yours is normally OK to clip and this is new behaviour, I'd question whether it was a good plan to be honest unless the vets require it.
 
Sedalin worked for me in that it took the edge off - mine was very fidgety & ticklish and would get very bargey once he was fed up and it just settled him enough for me to crack on.

Only needed to use for a couple of winters and he's eventually desensitized enough to clip without now.
 
Sedalin didnt work for me, but mine was really, really serious about not having his legs done! Try it and if it doesnt work then you know for next time.
 
If they are naughty I give domosedan and sedaline a try (together ) but really an IV sedation is much safer all round .
 
I wouldn't bother either, he is still going to have patches also if he's going to dick about I wouldn't want him upsetting something before he goes.
 
They’ll probably clip small patches of hair very close to skin anyway so I’d leave him as would cause extra stress. Also issue with Sedalin is that it doesn’t work very well if horse is already stressed, so needs to be given before coming near with clippers.

The amount of dope a horse needs varies so much - billy, a big 17h weighing probably around 650kg nearly falls over with just half of the recommended dose, so he only gets 1/3 and it knocks him out for a good hour lol. Even the vet was surprised with how little he needs 😂
 
Not just to keep him neat but more because he is a hot horse who still has a very thick coat, if he is going to stay at the hospital for a few days/weeks ect i want to try and keep him comfortable.
He has always done the flinching with his neck, its not new, the only time he didnt do it was when he was under standing sedation having his mud fever treated.
 
The good news is that it is forecast to get a LOT cooler than the weather of the past few days. I wouldn't bother with clipping either before he goes to the hospital but you could mention your concerns to them. As far as clipping with Sedalin goes it does seem to vary by horse. I would always give it at least 45 minutes before hand and keep the horse as quiet as possible during this time. In my experience it can take the edge off but is certainly not as effective as IV sedation.
 
If his quite bargy I would be inclined to give him the whole tube it can take a good hour to kick in and it's best to not start until it's taken full effect, your old blades probably just need sharpening hence not cutting.

They will clip areas again at the vets as they clip much closer than regular clipping blades for medical procedures.

Best to have a helper to give you a hand if you think he will be difficult on the day.
 
Horsekaren said:
Not just to keep him neat but more because he is a hot horse who still has a very thick coat, if he is going to stay at the hospital for a few days/weeks ect i want to try and keep him comfortable.
He has always done the flinching with his neck, its not new, the only time he didnt do it was when he was under standing sedation having his mud fever treated.
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If he needs it for his comfort, the vets will be able to do it with much more heavy duty sedation.
I've had some good experiences with sedalin and some not so good ones - either it did nothing, or was far more effective than I wanted it to be, as I've had to give Diva a full tube before for fireworks and she's been very, very upset, but equally the TB (who is over a hand taller) had two notches and was practically horizontal lol.
It's just a bit too hit and miss for a horse that has something wrong, when you're not sure what that 'something' is, imho.

Hope his vet trip gives you some clarity for you, I do really feel for you going through so much stress with your lovely lad x
 
Two of our horses are great to clip they just stand there & let you get on with it. The other horse however is terrified of the clippers. We've tried sedalin in the past but it had very little effect on him. When we clip now we always call the vet out & she injects him & stays with us until it's finished. It costs more obviously but we can clip quickly enough for him not to need a top up & he comes out of it as we finish. Again fortunately one clip last him, he isn't a hairy thing that needs clipping every few weeks.
 
^^ yup that if they think they need to do it because he is too hot they can do it there with proper sedation. But equally it's going to be a 15 degrees cooler here next week and raining.
 
There is a difference between a horse that is bad/dangerous to clip and one that is just a bit fidgety.

The former needs more than sedalin, the latter sedalin is usually sufficient.

I can’t imagine many vets having the time or inclination to be doing a full body clip!

OP if he is hairy and hot bung some sedalin in and see if it helps. If it does great, if it doesn’t then you know for next time. It really isn’t a big deal.
 
Horsekaren said:
Not just to keep him neat but more because he is a hot horse who still has a very thick coat, if he is going to stay at the hospital for a few days/weeks ect i want to try and keep him comfortable.
He has always done the flinching with his neck, its not new, the only time he didnt do it was when he was under standing sedation having his mud fever treated.
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I would not clip. I would leave him as he is so that the vet can see exactly how thick his coat is. It may be relevant to them.
 
In my youth, when I was braver (stupider) I worked for a vet who thought it would be a good plan to offer clipping for problem horses. We duly received quite a few clients - he would sedate them, and I would clip them. I can tell you that they kick you just as hard and fast under sedation - you just don't see any of the warning body language first. So you have to be particularly careful with clipping a sedated horse.

On the plus side, I'm the fastest clipper you ever saw. :D
 
Shilasdair said:
In my youth, when I was braver (stupider) I worked for a vet who thought it would be a good plan to offer clipping for problem horses. We duly received quite a few clients - he would sedate them, and I would clip them. I can tell you that they kick you just as hard and fast under sedation - you just don't see any of the warning body language first. So you have to be particularly careful with clipping a sedated horse.

On the plus side, I'm the fastest clipper you ever saw. :D
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Our stud vet has always said 'I never trust any horse but I NEVER trust a sedated horse'. It's something worth remembering I think!!!
 
My horse hates the clippers. Sedalin didn’t even touch him. Domosedan worked a treat and lasted about 2 hours. £30...which can be expensive if you want to do a few clips
 
I never really go to any form of sedation for a clip unless really bad, a decent holder is all I usually need. And that is TB's mainly. For your boy, I can see why you want to get some of the hair off, they will clip him much closer though than you will so you will have a patchy horse depending on what they do. But it doesn't last long, Nickel has his coffin joints injected in May and I was horrified how bad the patches looked, but 4 weeks later when he competed you couldn't see them at all!
 
But then I'd twitch before resorting to sedation but that's just what I am used to doing, you can't give things like Sedalin to racehorses whenever you want, so you have to try every other way first if they are running.
 
Sedalin doesn't touch the sides with mine it's either domosedan (whatever they call it) and or twitch. I don't like twitching but it seems to be the only thing that works.
If you're not keen on the nose you can also try taking a handful of skin on the neck just in front of the shoulder
 
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