My mare has had some issues with the farrier due to her having some abscesses and not wanting anyone near her feet and I’d like to order some mild acting sedatives to get her through the shoeing process.
I can order either Dorm gel or compounded Ace from my vet’s pharmacy. Which do you suggest?
I’m considering the compounded Ace in case my other half needs to drug a horse. He’s not comfortable with injecting horses or drawing up drugs with a needle.
I’d ask the farrier what drug he prefers to work under. Most have worked under enough drugged horses to have their own preferences.
Barring that, I’d ask the vet what she recommends.
My vet’s go to, last time I needed to drug for the farrier, was 1 cc ace, 1 cc dorm, IM. The horse was large.
You do know to take the needle OFF the syringe for oral administration, right? You don’t “squirt from the needle” into the mouth.
Often a pro will have a choice, I’d ask. But they have oral from gel which is great & squirting Ace in the mouth is easy. However both should be done well before farrier arrives. Ace tablets are easy as well.
horses can be quite unpredictable under ace and will explode, dorm is much more reliable. , Dorm gel comes in a tube like a dewormer.
I’ve never met a farrier who is willing to work under a horse with Ace on board :no:
I’m considering the compounded Ace in case my other half needs to drug a horse. He’s not comfortable with injecting horses or squirting from a needle into their mouths.
Please please please don’t put a needle anywhere near the mouth :no: Use the need to draw up the meds, but remove it for squirting in
Exactly - if a horse should “blow through” Ace, he is likely to be a lot more dangerous than if he’d not had it at all - it’s a function of what their brains can process vs what their body can do.
Just know that with dorm gel, you need to be impeccably certain you don’t get the gel on your skin.
^ ALL ^ this …
My horse, bless him, needs sedation for the farrier and I love dorm gel. It was recommended by my farrier as well as vet. I’m sure you already know but in case you don’t… the gel comes in a syringe with no needle, you need to wear gloves to administer and it goes under the tongue, takes about 45 min for full effect. I have had the most success when I give 1/4 tube at a time, that way I know I am getting it under the tongue and less chance it gets spit out everywhere. My gelding is approx 16.2 and I’d say in the 1100-1200 lb range and I just give him the full tube. For my needs it works great!
Dorm gel is a godsend for those that are tricky with the farrier. My mare can now be fully shod without any “help” but while we were working on getting her there, dorm gel was an absolute necessity to keep the farrier safe, get her feet done, and keep me sane.
My farrier and vets seem to prefer a dorm/torb cocktail. Torbugesic (butorphanol) is a little better at “quieting the feet” without having them so knocked out that you don’t really want to be working on their feet. Doesn’t last all that long…like maybe 30-45mins and I believe you’d need to give this mix IV.
I have called my vet out to a farrier appointment for this purpose, similar to your situation. Horse is not exactly an angel getting his front feet done anyway, but the RF which has had a couple injuries and a lot of poking and prodding and injecting in particular. The last injury, broken splint, kind of rekindled his obnoxiousness. So, for his next shoeing after that, I just paid the vet to administer the cocktail when the farrier arrived. It was worn off by the time we got to the hinds, but he’s fine for those. Would I want to do that every time? No, but it got us through that appointment, and after that he was back to his normal, semi-obnoxious self.
Take the needle off before squirting!!!
In a case like this Dormosedan is my drug of choice. However getting under the tongue with some horses can be a challenge.
Of course I’m taking the needle off. He is uncomfortable with the process of putting a needle on a syringe to draw up the right amount of liquid and I’d like to make it easier on him with a handy paste or gel.
I already discussed it with my farrier.
I had no idea you were supposed to wear gloves until well after the first application! Would have been helpful at the time but thankfully no slip ups. Had a horse we had rescued and it needed to be moved fast and was semi feral.
This is what my long-time farrier said as well, when we were discussing this very subject. He told me he’d much rather work under a horse sedated with dorm.
However, I’ve never had to sedate a horse for the farrier, so have no real life experience with either.
Well, it would be unlikely to really absorb that much through the skin on your hands unless you didn’t notice it. I’m much more worried about getting it in my eyes or mouth - e.g. if the horse decides to spit it back out or blow snot in your face. So think about that too.
And yes - agree with the majority above. Dorm gel is my farrier’s preference if mild sedation is necessary. He won’t work on a horse with Ace.
If your boyfriend isn’t comfortable orally dosing a horse via a syringe, don’t ask him to try to do the sublingual dorm dosing :eek: There’s definitely an art to it.
I’ve found dorm + ace IM very nice for farrier work, but agree that ace alone is a poor idea. Particularly oral ace.
Doubtful there’s anything that will work for you if your boyfriend is doing the dosing and isn’t comfortable with oral administration. Probably smart to just get the vet out instead to come up with an appropriate cocktail and maintain sedation.
I agree; if you do not get it under the tongue and the horse swallows it or spits it out, it isn’t very effective. I’ve used it only 3 times and each dose was somewhat different, ranging from very sleepy to almost no effect. I’m assuming that some/all of the dose was spit out or swallowed for some of these times.
I would also start working with her to stand for treatment after you get the feet caught up. Put her in front of a hay bag and teach her that messing with feet can be a good thing, but I’m sure you are going to do that…
My farrier will inject IV if necessary. He has the meds. I tried dorm gel once and it had ZERO effect on my mare (at the time). They have to be relaxed when administered and it needs to “soak” for 30-45 minutes.
And this is illegal. It’s called practicing veterinary medicine without a license. At the very least, it’s a hefty fine. It can be jail time.
I have better luck with dorm when the gel is given a full hour prior to use, ace is usually 30minutes. YMMV.
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