Sedating - If done often is it dangerous?

If you are talking about vet administered sedation it ought not to be, but there is always a risk in giving a horse a sedative. Their desire to eat comes back quicker than the swallow reflex, so a big danger is choking.

I think people get very blase about doping their horses and I am amazed at how many people who have sedatives of some sort in the tack room and give them to their horses like sweeties for a range of reasons.

In an ideal world your horse ought to require less and less sedative and hopefully get used to being shod without needing anything.
 
Sedation is always dangerous, the risks are small otherwise it wouldn't be done. Risks include colic, choke and faling over if over dosed. The biggest risk is if the horse has a heart problem and the heart is compromised because sedation reduces blood pressure and the heart may not be able to compensate properly.
Risks are not cumulative if done every 4-6weeks and succesive sedations are actually safer because the effective dose is known and if the horse hasn't suffered side effects previously it is less likely to in the furture.
 
I think it is a matter of risk assessment. Sedating short term for the farrier/clipping seems sensible if people are being put at risk. As already said hopefully the sedation will not be needed every time in the long term and the horse will benefit.

Having a sharp TB who is very very difficult to turn out if he has been in on box rest (or for 3 weeks in this awful weather) a small dose of sedalin allows him to get to his field without too many shenanigans. He is fine after the first day but is positively dangerous on the first trip out to the field (long walk down a single track lane). The alternative is human injury/horse injury/road traffic accident - so the sedalin is a small risk. I would not want to repeatedly sedate any horse long term - that may well then be a management issue rather than a "one off" incident.
 
Misst - I couln't agree with you more. My post was just laying down the facts in relation to sedation injected by the vet. ACP used repeatedly can become a problem because horses get resistant to it but I think any sedation is always preferable to human/horse injury. I also believe a horse can be trained to accept the farrier without sedation so if op is having to sedated every time the farier comes perhaps op needs to find some new training techniques?
 
Sam22 I agree about regular sedation - had a mare who was terrified of clippers when we got her but had a huge hairy coat and got very hot. After 3 sedations IV, each a little less, she was able to be clipped without and now stands quietly without any problem at all. I would have thought the sheer expense of keeping up with vet visits would be an equally great risk - to the pocket!
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i think it depends on why you are sedating and depends on the horse and saftey of others around them at the times
also if it was along term prob like farrier i think its ok short term but would need the problem worked on in the long term

my horse has been sedated for a liver biopsy and ultra sound lately but i dont like her being sedated as due to her liver problem even with a shetland dose she almost goes down and it takes her hours to come round fully enough to box home but it has to be done to try and help her
 
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