sand_piper ([info]sand_piper) wrote,
@ 2009-04-22 13:14:00
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Dolly and Needles
Dolly is a big baby when it comes to the vet. She is so sensitive, and she remembers the vet and tries to avoid her presence. She received vaccines, EIA, etc. the other day. But she was so freaked out. She jumped all around, her eyes were huge and she was snorting like she was going to hyperventilate. It's really dangerous for her, the vet, and myself at that point.

What I Might Consider, based on the following websites:

* I need to buy a syringe for training. Where do you purchase those?? I will desensitize Dolly to the sights, sounds, and locations of syringes.

* I will probably need to have a stranger approach Dolly, to mimic the vet. Dolly is so used to me that she doesn't freak out when *I* hold things, although those same things can be scary in the hands of others.

* Switching vets, since just the sight of my current vet is enough to send Dolly in hysterics, and my vet is too busy to work on desensitizing herself to the horse.

Websites I'm gathering that are on-topic and offer useful tips from both trainers and owners:

http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips314.html

http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/7/15616.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080806205125AArM0RB

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Horses-Behavior-Issues-3329/2008/1/Kicking-vaccinated-www-freewebs.htm

*incomplete, but I have to go*

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[info]unico_love
2009-04-22 10:02 pm UTC (link)
I'm sorry Dolly is having such a hard time:(

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[info]penella22
2009-04-22 11:27 pm UTC (link)
Curlies can be hard that way because they have such great memories, and Sage is much like Dolly in that he really will not tolerate any perceived or anticipated pain. He's very associative as well, meaning he will develop a dislike for certain pieces of equipment or certain people based on one bad encounter.

Here's what I've been told to do;

#1, play friendly game with your horse. A lot. Use a very friendly touch, almost like massage, to touch *everywhere* on your horse's body. Ears, nostrils, between their eyes, their mouth, their legs, hooves, underbelly, private parts, under their tail, the back of their hind legs. Everything. At first just notice where they object. Later on figure out how you can softly and gently work into those areas and build their trust.

The whole point of this is that a horse that won't trust you with their leg or let you touch their ear is certainly not feeling safe enough to handle other things. So this is step one, and its really important to be SOLID on this.

For syringes, the next thing you do is practice teaching them to lower their head on cue. Then you have them lower their neck and bend their head towards you. This helps relax their neck. Having a shot given when their head is up in the air, and their neck muscles are tight, is much more painful than if they know how to relax and bend on command.

Then you practice pinching their neck between thumb and forefinger, and use a pencil or anything like that to simulate a gentle poke. Do it fast and efficiently, and with authority the way a vet would. You bend her neck, then pinch with fingers and practice poking her with the pencil or whatever it is. Do it every day for awhile. Eventually its not a big deal.

Between that and switching vets she should be okay.

With Sage, I'm working on desensitizing him to wormer tubes. I have a syringe for paste (but I fill it with apple sauce) and practice squirting it into his mouth.

I haven't ever gotten him good about thermometers though...still gotta work on that one...

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[info]sand_piper
2009-04-24 05:40 pm UTC (link)
Definitely Dolly's neck is HIGH and TENSE when she's getting the shot. Plus, she is jumping around, so I'm sure it DOES hurt her quite a lot.

Thanks for the information -- I'll definitely practice getting her to lower her head/turn her head toward me a little bit, and I'll practice with the pinching and poking.

And although I hate to switch vets because she's SO knowledgeable about the physical health of horses, I really do need to find one who will have just a little bit more time to spend on the emotional needs, if possible.

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