Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Acepromazine takes about 30 minutes to take effect and will last eight hours or longer. It does not relieve pain, so should not be used to control the horse for painful procedures. Dowling pointed out “it’s important not to ‘trust’ the sedation. If you startle the horse or cause enough pain, he can override the sedation and hurt you.” It causes a significant drop in blood pressure so should not be used if the horse is bleeding or in shock.
Side effects include salivation, sweating, diarrhea, elevated blood glucose, decreased intestinal motility, and the risk of early labour with retained placenta, if given to a pregnant mare in the last trimester of pregnancy. These drugs should not be used with horses who have certain health problems including heart disease, respiratory dysfunction, seizures, or those who are in shock. Further, the heart rate is dramatically slowed, and some horses will faint after begin given a dose.
For some people, using sedatives is a routine part of horse management, but others contend that they are used too often, and not necessary in most cases.For many horse owners, sedatives and calming agents are an important tool for managing their horses in difficult situations when the horse might otherwise become a danger to others – or to himself. These medications are often used in horses to deal with situations where the horse might become anxious or aggressive: trailering, using clippers, or having teeth floated, for example.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Horse Tranquilizer
Do you think it is okay to tranquilize a horse?
For those who haven’t seen it before, a sedated horse doesn’t lie down, but their head gets lower and lower, and they may require something to lean on to help them balance. It’s also important to remember that a sedated horse CAN still kick – they’re just much less likely to do so! It often seems that the horse is still more or less aware of what’s going on around them, but they’re too sleepy to care about it. As a result, we’d almost invariably use pain relief and local anaesthetic as well if we’re carrying out a surgical procedure.
There are a wide range of situations in which we like to use sedation. Generally, it’s to make the horse more amenable when something nasty or scary is being done to them. Of course, this varies from horse to horse. There are quite a lot of horses out there that need a sedative before the farrier can trim their feet; and there are others that will allow you to suture up a wound without sedation or even local anaesthetic (not recommended, but occasionally necessary).
For those who haven’t seen it before, a sedated horse doesn’t lie down, but their head gets lower and lower, and they may require something to lean on to help them balance. It’s also important to remember that a sedated horse CAN still kick – they’re just much less likely to do so! It often seems that the horse is still more or less aware of what’s going on around them, but they’re too sleepy to care about it. As a result, we’d almost invariably use pain relief and local anaesthetic as well if we’re carrying out a surgical procedure.
There are a wide range of situations in which we like to use sedation. Generally, it’s to make the horse more amenable when something nasty or scary is being done to them. Of course, this varies from horse to horse. There are quite a lot of horses out there that need a sedative before the farrier can trim their feet; and there are others that will allow you to suture up a wound without sedation or even local anaesthetic (not recommended, but occasionally necessary).
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