Sedating pony to clip it

lialls

lialls

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My shetland pony appears to have lice and after doing a bit of research and talking to a few people treatment seems to have a better effect if the pony is cliped first if it has a thick coat. My shetland is still very hairy so it may be better as it might also make him less itchy anyway.

My only problem is that he is very nervous, so i was wondering about sedating him? Which sedative works best for this? I have used syringe sedelin before when shoeing a different pony but my pony has a panic about being wormed so i dont think sedelin will work for us, as he will painc about the syringe going in his mouth. Is there anything else i can use? ACP? Have used this before too on a different horse.

I plan to treat him today, If i cant find a way to clip him then i will just treat with lice powder anyway.
 
I make a sedalin sandwiches for my lad.

I hide the sedalin in anything that comes to hand. I've hollowed out a small carrot. Squished it up in a bit of bannana. Mixed it with mollasses and a bit of hi fi (Messy but worked brilliantly!) I've even stuck polos together with it.

Writing this I'm just wondering if his tendnancy to spit it out if I do it from the tube is just a ploy to get treats.....
 
ACP and sedalin are both the same thing just in a different form, neither of them are that good for clipping a lot of horses will fight it and you wont get the desired effect. IMO the best an safest way to do it is get the vet to come and sedate it IV with Domasedan and Torbagisic, a shetland shouldnt need too much, but they are certainly well under.
 
I am unconvinced about the whole sedalin/ACP being the same thing. I have used ACP on ponies (small ones) and under vets recommedations they have on occasions had up to 40 tablets each and it didn't touch them. 3 measures of sedolin does the trick very easily. Is the strength very different?

I wouldn't bother with the ACP tabltes is he is very nervous but try to get him to eat some sedolin.
 
Why not just get the vet out anyway as you need to discuss the possibility of cushings as raised on the other thread. He could sedate him at the same time.
 
Brandy, ACP and Sedalin are the same thing, read the active ingridients, also if you crush 12 ACP tablets put it into a syringe and add a little hot water and shake up, you have exactly the same a Sedalin, this is how I always get ACP into a horse then you definitly know they have had it.
Either way I would personally never clip a bad horse with either I always tell people they get them sedated by a vet, much more reliable and safer. If they dont want to spend the money I say "You can always clip him yourself!"
 
The active substance is the same, the carrier is different and seems to be better absorbed as Sedalin gel:)
I clip all my tricky clippers sedated with sedalin or sedazine
 
Katt - I posted this before i had seen about the posible cushings on my other post.

I shall treat him with lice powder tonight and get the vet out tomorrow. The vet may say different or want to see him with fur still intact, if my vet says to clip him then i shall ask him what is best to do as he is very nervous and worming him last time was a nightmare as he wouldnt let us get the syringe in his mouth! I no that horses have to be calm in the first place for sedative to work so i cant use the syringe method for this.
 
IME very very few horses or ponies really Need sedation. Most of the bad behaviour or fidgets comes from people trying to do it all too quickly.

Michael Peace does a very good description on how to over come a horse's clipping fear.

My lad "had" to be sedated for clipping when I got him. I haven't yet had to and I've had him 5 years and he's been fully clipped every winter and 2 summers. The first year I didn't do his head, the next two I just did up to his cheek bones, last year I did the whole lot with trimmers, this year i did it all with the ordinary ones.

My friends horse "needed" sedation and still took her 2 hours. I managed it in 2 hours without the drugs. he just found it tickly and so fidgetted which made her stressed which made him stressed so he fidgeted more.

The trick is to reward the behaviour you want. So start by running the clippers and talking quietly to the horse. when he stands still turn them off anf reward with a stroke. once he's got the idea and stands quietly move onto runnning them and touching him and do the same. slowly work up to clipping small sections and turning them off, reward, allow him a breath or two and start again. He'll cope with it in no time. But PLEASE don't rush!
 
I understand what your saying jenhunt and i am working on building his confidence up with me to make him less nervous.

Some background history of him - he was bred by a shetland pony breeder in the westmidlands, the breeder just kept the shetlands in a field, unhandled. He was sold at auction with some of the others (not sure how old he was but still unhandled) As a 12 year old he was gelded and used on a livery yard as a companion. They never botherd to catch him or lead him anywhere, he just followed behind the other horses to and from the yard and went in to the empty stable when bought in. They did groom him, but didnt handle him that much.

I bought him from there as a 14 year old. Hes nervous to handle and groom but is getting better, he still very jumpy and dosnt like his legs being touched but he is getting better. I can catch him in the field with food and he leads very well. But things that dont happen daily like worming are still issues.

He is jumpy and flighty enought as it is just with grooming him, I dont want to upset him with clipping him for a medical reason thats why i asked about sedation. I shall speak to my vet tomorrow anyway
 
That's fair enough, and I wasn't meaning to imply that you were going about it the wrong way, I just wanted to make the point that sedation really isn't the only way forwards!
sounds like you've got it all covered.
 
Sedalin works better because it is absorbed quicker. Its a gel and so absorbable through the membranes of the mouth and throat as well as in the stomach. Tablets have to be crushed or digested to be effective. (Same thing applies to pain killer tables versus gel for humans!)

The problem with getting a vet out every time is that clipping becomes a very expensive option. My lad is clipped out year round - so every 6 weeks or so all year. If I had to get the vet every time I simply could not affor to do it. That would seriously impact on what he would be able to do with a full coat and given his problems with mud fever could easily become a welfare issue as well.

Obviously if the horse is still stressed out or dangerous even after a max does of sedalin then that is your only option. But if, as with mine, a bit of sedalin just takes the edge off for him so both he and I have a happier and less stressful experience then I'm all for it.
 
There is also the small inconvenience of Domosedan/Torbugesic mixture that some horses tend to sweat up and skin twitch quite a bit, which is not very helpful while clipping:)
 
The syringe aversion must be a shetland thing - my shetland x won't let me near him with a worming syringe either! The first and only time I tried, I found I had a pair of hooves for earrings - oops.

I decided not to go there in future, and mix any medicine into his feed or a titbit - much easier. If the vet is coming anyway, you might as well wait, as acp didn't help mine when I had the dentist coming so had the annoyance of having to pay a vet's bill as well as the dentist.

Shetlands - who'd have one?!
 
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