Stocks of some sort?

Impu1sion

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Where would I be able to buy those stocks that I could put a horse in to contain when wanting to worm/bath/clip etc. I'm not looking forward to Thursday when the vet is coming to do my youngsters teeth - she is nervous of vets as she had a needle bent in her neck last year when being vaccinated and is wary. I thought some stocks may be a good idea, or some home made contraption? Has anyone done anything like this before?
 

Pearlsasinger

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I think rather than forcing your horse to stand still becasue she has no choice you would do better to work with her to train her to accept worming/bathing/clipping etc. Stocks would just make her panic more because she can't escape.
As for the vaccinations, I would expect the vet to offer some help towards putting right the problem caused by the bent needle. You could sedate her before the vet arrives, or you can make a twitch which doesn't hold them still but releases endorphins which keep them still while something unpleasanthappens. My vet brigns his own twitch.
 

Exploding Chestnuts

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The vet might have stocks at his premises, but I can assure you they will not contain an unwilling animal, they will however protect a handler.
Probably cost about 1-2K
A youngster with a problem needs lots of handling every day and every way to help them to accept stuff. You should be banging on the neck, and ask lots of others to groom it and handle it.
Make sure the senior vet comes to jab it, not the bent needle one. Sometimes a jab lower down twxt the legs can be OK
What you have to realise is that the neck jab protects the vet from injury and that is why it is prefered.
You can jab him in the bum while the vet holds the head.
 
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conniegirl

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Stocks won't make a horse stand. Still if tbey panic.
My lad came round from the sedation unexpectedly whilst having his spine injected, he broke the stocks! He went backwards so fast and then sat on the back that his 600kg weight popped the back bar off.
 

JillA

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I think rather than forcing your horse to stand still becasue she has no choice you would do better to work with her to train her to accept worming/bathing/clipping etc. Stocks would just make her panic more because she can't escape.
As for the vaccinations, I would expect the vet to offer some help towards putting right the problem caused by the bent needle. You could sedate her before the vet arrives, or you can make a twitch which doesn't hold them still but releases endorphins which keep them still while something unpleasanthappens. My vet brigns his own twitch.

This ^^^^. Restraining a panicking half ton of animal can be very very dangerous indeed.
 

madlady

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Rather than stocks do you have anywhere you can cross tie?

We have some 'home made' stocks at the stud that we built into the side of the barn - they are basically a very narrow stall that OH built out of very sturdy wood - they are used for the vet scanning mares.

One of ours doesn't like having his teeth done and really fights it - we did think of putting him in the stocks but the chances are he would panic and a panicking horse in stocks can injure themselves and handler. Instead we cross tied him and gave him a mild sedative before the dentist got there - he still didn't like it but was manageable.
 

FfionWinnie

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I'm afraid stocks aren't really any use. Cattle are contained in a crush only because it catches them by the neck. You just couldn't do that to a horse they have a totally different temperament and attitude to life. Trying to use a crush without the neck part is as useless as stocks are, in my experience. My very placid lovely horse was in the stocks to be scoped when she was dying of EGS and it really wasn't a pleasant experience.

Practice "injecting" using a rubber band (Richard Maxwell covers this in his book) and sedate her.
 

Goldenstar

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Stocks are not the way to deal with bathing a horse you need to train the horse to accept then things it has to do,to have a good life in the modern world .
That includes working to get the horse to accept needles ay home do things like wearing of vet of overtrousers , going about stinking of hibiscrub .
Giving oral sedation rubbed on the gums before the vet arrives may be the thing to do for the next vet visit it should make it easy for the vet to get a needle in to give IV sedation .
Much can be done to prepare a horse for a dental by accustoming it to having it's mouth tongue and teeth touched wearing a head torch etc etc but there's no getting away from it it's not a great experiance for the horse .
 

Exploding Chestnuts

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Stocks are not the way to deal with bathing a horse you need to train the horse to accept then things it has to do,to have a good life in the modern world .
That includes working to get the horse to accept needles ay home do things like wearing of vet of overtrousers , going about stinking of hibiscrub .
Giving oral sedation rubbed on the gums before the vet arrives may be the thing to do for the next vet visit it should make it easy for the vet to get a needle in to give IV sedation .
Much can be done to prepare a horse for a dental by accustoming it to having it's mouth tongue and teeth touched wearing a head torch etc etc but there's no getting away from it it's not a great experiance for the horse .

You see, my boy took to all these procedures with a stoic attitude, that was until he had strangles and a vet who had no bedside manners and no idea how to handle horses, he then lost trust, I got a new vet and insisted he lead pony in to his stable while feeding him treats, that seemed to work.
The first dental treatment was a new and quiet EDT using hand tools, pony was fine, I gave him a tiny bit of sedation but he was fine.
Next time no sedation and power tools, he was fine.
 
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Impu1sion

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Thanks for the replies :) That's a good tip about Sedalin, I will ask the vet for their advice before they come.. I would probably be better with some posts for cross ties on reflection, I am always on my own so don't have anyone to help me and the youngster is always pretty well behaved for me - I just have this problem with the vet! (I have a few horses and was thinking I'd like somewhere to cross tie when bathing and clipping the older horses). Thanks all!
 
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