Sedation

chunky monkey

chunky monkey

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May 2, 2007
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I clipped chunky last week. Who is a saint. I brought billy in so he could listen to the noise of the generator and clippers. Hes young and never been clipped. I wasn't intending to clip billy it was more about desensitising him.
He stood over the generator not fazed by it, so I thought ok will see if he accepts the clipper. I'll take the long facial hair off under his face. I have to keep scissoring it off as it grows so much and interferes with the bridle when tacking up.
Probably not the place to really start with on reflection, as he is head shy.
Needless to say he wasn't going to have any off it. Front legs coming up horizontal, jumping about. I never even got the clippers in contact. I think he is on of those horse that isn't going to stand for clipping and is more likely to land you in hospital.
I have been told you can buy a sedative you give in feed. I think I will have to sedate if I want to clip him. Anyone know what the sedation is called and how much it costs. I assume I have to buy it from the vets. How long does it sedate them for. Any side effects.
 
Jess is good to clip now but if I went straight for her face I'd likely get a similar reaction, so you might find with time and practice he'll come round to it :) (she was impossible when I first tried)
I've found the instacalm sachets quite effective but don't give a full sedative effect, or you can get sedalin or domorsedan from the vets which will.
 
It's Sedalin I think you are talking about

I think with time and work (without the goals of clipping him) you will probably find he adjusts. It took a few sessions with madam but she will happily be clipped now :)
 
I've used Sedalin many times on ours for various occasions with great success. I don't clip but I have used it on J in the past when he needed to be chilled for something. I have atube in my first aid kit, mainly in case madam pulls her tendon again and we don't want her hoolying once she goes back out. I got it from the vet though, don't think you can just buy it without prescription.
I also used instant calm sachets from Global Herbs, tho mine can nearly always detect them in their food and won't eat easily.
 
Sedalin, and the stronger Domesedan, need to be given by syringe into an empty mouth & not squirted down the throat like a wormer either since they.re absorbed through the membranes. You used to be able to get acp tablets that could be given in a handful of feed but they're no longer licensed for horses. Both sedalin & domesedan are only available on vet prescription.
 
Mine won't tolerate scissors under the chin, I get a goat for winter.
She does like being clipped. I started out with those tiny £10 ones and just included in with the grooming gradually over the summer.
I wouldn't recommend them to do a bib clip as it took about four days. She fell asleep.
 
We have use both sedalin and Dormasedan for doing teeth, We squeeze it under their top lip.
 
We reserve sedation for those who nothing else works for. It may take a while but get him used to seeing other horses clipped, run the clipper (switched off) over his neck whenever grooming and build up to taking bits off his neck, go or a bib clip to start with and gradually enlarge it as required. Lots of horses will not tolerate having heads done with mains clippers but tolerate silent trimmers. Heads do not help much in cooling so leave this area until essential. For the rare horse who does not tolerate clipping but needs it get in a vet and a couple of experienced clippers and take off as much as possible as quickly as they can, within 10 minutes should be the aim for an emergency full clip. Make sure the vet stays on site while clipping.in case the sedative needs topping up
 
I don't really like Sedalin and have struggled and had to still twitch with it in the past so now only use dormasedan gel, it's excellent you have to make sure it's squirted under the tongue and the result is you get a very sleepy pony/horse;). Definitely the next best thing to vets sedation but without the call out:D. xx
 
Thanks. In view of his attitude I think it will have to be a sedate. We had to sedate to do his teeth.
He is due vaccinations in November so I will have to plan to clip then and ask the vet to sedate so I can clip. Mind that's if we can even get the needle in. His last vaccinations he squashed the vet against the gate and tried biting him. I felt awful. I have been working on pulling up the skin on his neck in the hope he won't know it's happening next time.
He is a very touch sensitive boy, so running the clippers over him switched off a few times might help.
 
If he's that bad to inject you may do better to ask your vet for Domosedan, give it correctly (it really does make all the difference to how effective it is) - & then when it's had time to ick in crack on as fast as you can. The problem with needle shy horses is they're often so wound up by the time the dope gets in that the fight it off. Be aware though that a lot of horses sweat heavily when doped & this can make clipping very difficult.

The other thing that may be worth trying is getting someone in to clip him. Where I am there used to be a chap who did a lot of clipping, particularly on the racing yards, & he could clip many horses that for anyone else needed a heavy sedation. He was a proper old fashioned horseman who could read a horse & would treat it accordingly - thugs would get firmly corrected, nervous horses would be reassured & handed in the way that worked best for them. It also helped that he was incredibly fast & so experienced that he could focus mostly on the horse rather than the clipping. Horses done by him tended to get better & better, particularly the scared ones who learned it wasn't a bad experience. Unfortunately there aren't many like him, but there's no harm in asking around.
 
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**update** I used Domosedan to sedate Toffee and it knocked him out for hours. He nearly fell over he was under that deep. Fabulous stuff but advice to anyone using it, it's strong stuff and if, like me you worried it wouldn't work and gave them a little extra (as advised by my vet) and put it where it should go (under the tongue) and then kept them completely still and quiet for 45 minutes to allow it to kick in, it can have very strong effects. I ended up ringing the vet, panicking as I couldn't bring him round. 4 hours later and I managed by walking him around the stable (or rather shuffling) and then moving out onto the yard when he woke up enough.
 
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SeeingSpots said:
**update** I used Domosedan to sedate Toffee and it knocked him out for hours. He nearly fell over he was under that deep. Fabulous stuff but advice to anyone using it, it's strong stuff and if, like me you worried it wouldn't work and gave them a little extra (as advised by my vet) and put it where it should go (under the tongue) and then kept them completely still and quiet for 45 minutes to allow it to kick in, it can have very strong effects. I ended up ringing the vet, panicking as I couldn't bring him round. 4 hours later and I managed by walking him around the stable (or rather shuffling) and then moving out onto the yard when he woke up enough.
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. It's brilliant stuff and fantastic that it can be used without a vet call out, glad it worked well for Toffee. x
 
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That's worth knowing. I might try it next time. How easy did you find to get under the tongue with the horse full with it to start with?
 
For needle shy horses don't put the injections in the neck, have the vet pat and rub his neck and work down to the chest and pop the jabs in there.

Get an electric toothbrush and hold it on the brush you are using to groom him then once he is accepting that try again.
 
MrC said:
For needle shy horses don't put the injections in the neck, have the vet pat and rub his neck and work down to the chest and pop the jabs in there.
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It depends on how needleshy the horse is, if it was that simple then vets would do it as a matter of course on tricky horses. Also it puts the vet in an extremely vulnerable position if the horse does anything other than jump away. I'm not saying it isn't worth a try with a horse that doesn't like jabs, but from my experiences with Jim I can honestly say at best it wouldn't have worked & in all probability the vet would have been injured. Also it's only an option for IM, not IV.
 
Well Kia is horrendous to inject. He has crushed both myself and any vet who has went to his neck to inject his jabs. He goes for the vet as soon as they go near his neck close, so standing at grooming distanc and patting he doesn't bother. He barely even felt it in his chest and didn't even notice.

I said his jabs not his sedation which is of course injected into a vein and not the muscles. If a horse is going to go for a vet nowhere including the neck is safe. Trying different areas isn't anymore risky than going for an already proven to be volatile spot.
 
tikkitti said:
. It's brilliant stuff and fantastic that it can be used without a vet call out, glad it worked well for Toffee. x
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I did get worried after it had been 2.5hrs ish after clipping and he was still out. Vets assured me that it was ok though. I'm currently in the process of trying to clipper train him so hopefully won't need it forever but I'd definitely use it again.

chunky monkey said:
That's worth knowing. I might try it next time. How easy did you find to get under the tongue with the horse full with it to start with?
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Toffee is pretty fab with stuff like that, he's fine with wormers etc so I tied him up in the stable, had my daughter stand on one side of him to check I'd got it under the tongue and I just sort of popped it under and squirted. He started chewing afterwards - well making the chewing motion - as you would if something was under your tongue so I just quietly took him and stood him on his bed. I didn't let him walk around, I just made him stand there and stroked his neck to keep him chilled. Half an hour/forty minutes ish and he started to go under and his head dropped. 45 minutes and he was totally under. I was really pleased with it actually but I do think it's really, really important to keep them calm and quiet as much as possible. I had him in his headcollar and literally had him stand next to me and I just stroked him and he was so chilled so it affected him. A mare across the yard tried it though and it didn't touch her.
 
Unless I am missing something. A sedated relaxed horse is hard to clip? The muscles sag and head is on the floor.

I haven't used anything other than a sedative. Hadn't heard of it to be honest. Initially we needed to twitch to inject the sedative. That was for teeth and vaccinations. Last time we just needed a teeny bit of sedation.
The reason is she because she grew up and more so actually got some manners!

I think the other stuff people talk of is a last resort, life and death situation.
 
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