Dormosedan Gel - Riding Afterwards

[sheltoneb]

I am planning to clip my horse and he needs Dormosedan gel to do it safely. I don’t like to clip unless the overnight temperatures are going to be fairly warm for a several days afterwards to give the horse time to adjust. Since I have to sedate him, I also don’t like to clip in the evenings. This is so that someone is around for a longer period of time after him being sedated. I do stay until he appears fully alert. Basically I am limited to clipping him on the weekends or early Friday afternoon as I have that afternoon off.

Due to the wild weather swings and my schedule, it seems like the best opportunity to clip is tomorrow (Friday). This gives a If not, it will be a couple of weeks before I can do it. The complication is that I have a lesson at 4:45.

If I sedate him around 1:30 would it be safe to ride him at 4:45? My vet says it is fine, but I figured it doesn’t hurt to ask others.

[equiniphile]

One dose at 1:30 should wear off enough for him to be safe to ride for your lesson. I would be more concerned about the one dose of Dorm providing enough sedation to finish the clip. I give IV Dorm when I clip my horse, and for a full clip I have to give additional Dorm partway through. If the one dose at 1:30 doesn’t last long enough, giving a second dose later may mean he’s not awake enough for your lesson, depending on when it’s given.

[theresak]

It depends on how much of a light weight your horse is - a tube of dorm gel works great for clipping horses that are clipper-shy but it can really knock them out. I only do partial clips, so I can start measuring and taping my lines while we wait for the dorm to kick in.

As @equiniphile notes, if you are doing a full clip and the dorm gel takes ~45 minutes to fully kick in, are you going to have enough time to get a good clip completed and let the dorm wear off? If your horse is only somewhat fractious about clipping and not totally freaked out, consider not giving the whole tube.

​​​​​ I’d think it would be wearing off around 4:30 but if he’s still a little woozy, is the lesson worth the money then? Can you push your lesson back or swap with someone?

[sheltoneb]

@equiniphile

One dose at 1:30 should wear off enough for him to be safe to ride for your lesson. I would be more concerned about the one dose of Dorm providing enough sedation to finish the clip. I give IV Dorm when I clip my horse, and for a full clip I have to give additional Dorm partway through. If the one dose at 1:30 doesn’t last long enough, giving a second dose later may mean he’s not awake enough for your lesson, depending on when it’s given.

I have clipped him once before. You are correct, it does not last long enough to do a full clip job. I did not clip his legs, belly or head. He was starting to come out of it and be really wiggly/grumpy about getting clipped towards the end. I am hoping he gets better about being clipped over time. While not clipping the head and legs is common, I never intended to clip his belly as he is very sensitive about normal grooming of the belly. I am trying to make the clipping experience as pleasant as possible. While this clip is not the most elegant, it served my purpose.

[Halt_Near_X]

Honestly, if your goal is to give him good clipping experiences, I wouldn’t do it. Reschedule the lesson or clip him Saturday and put a sheet on for a few nights if he needs to adjust.

Putting yourself in a situation where you are trying to finely gauge the level of sedation so you can ride later and/or are might end up rushing to finish the clip job so you don’t have to re-sedate is not setting up a situation where you can give him the best clipping experience possible.

[sheltoneb]

@Halt Near X

Honestly, if your goal is to give him good clipping experiences, I wouldn’t do it. Reschedule the lesson or clip him Saturday and put a sheet on for a few nights if he needs to adjust.

Putting yourself in a situation where you are trying to finely gauge the level of sedation so you can ride later and/or are might end up rushing to finish the clip job so you don’t have to re-sedate is not setting up a situation where you can give him the best clipping experience possible.

I am not sure how the lesson afterwards impacts the clipping experience. The time spent clipping is controlled based on how long the sedation last. He will get the recommended amount of gel based on his weight. The one time I clipped him, it took about 45 minutes for the gel to take effect and I had about 45 minutes after that until he was obviously coming out of it and I stopped clipping.

He is already getting blanketed. The problem is that the temperature is swinging between highs of in the 70s to lows in the 30s with a few days in the 20s. I live in Houston and the average high is 65 to an average low of 44. The lows we are experiencing are outside normal. With it getting into the 70s, he is getting too hot despite being clipped in the fall.

I don’t want to delay clipping since he is getting hot. The 10 day forecast has the lows staying in the 50s for 2 days (Sunday night), and then swinging between 30s to 50s with the low on Monday being 43. The highs will also vary a lot.

[Scribbler]

I have to say, I don’t ride after the horse has been sedated that day. Even if they seem fine. It’s got to have some effect. I wouldn’t be likely to go to the gym if I’d been tranqed for some minor medical procedure either.

[poltroon]

It’s probably fine, but I personally wouldn’t, especially not a lesson where I expected any intensity from the horse. I particularly wouldn’t jump.

If you’re a dressage rider, it might be a good day to work on something like walk pirouettes or other slower work.

[Zu_Zu]

Earlier lesson … then clip …why gamble ?

[rockonxox]

Can you just put off this lesson until the following week (if you can’t reschedule)? Yes, you may be able to ride after - but if you have to give more, it takes longer to fully come out of sedation, etc why rush about to make sure you can get in a lesson. The sedation may seem to wear off, but are you really getting that much out of a full lesson if your horse could per chance still have some sedation in his system? Why risk that. Just hack if you really want to ride, that way if he is seeming NQR under saddle you can call it a day… or do whatever you want since it sounds like you aren’t liking the advice others are giving (that are mostly in agreement with eachother).

[sheltoneb]

To clarify, it is not that I don’t like the advise of the posters, it is several did not answering the question or I didn’t understand the response. Sorry it came out as snarky! Hopefully the additional info/answers below clarify any confusion.

To reiterate, the question is: Is it safe to ride at 4:45 if he is given the gel at 1:30. The vet said it would be fine, however, I don’t have much experience using sedatives and wanted to double check. I absolutely do not intend on riding if he is sedated at the time of the lesson. This includes if I do it and he is still sedated. If it matters, I ride Dressage at Training Level so no jumping or much lateral work.

I have also emailed the question to my instructor to get her option. She is very responsive to emails and I expect a response either tonight or tomorrow morning.

I just want to make sure that what I do is safe for both me and the horse. I am trying to balance the need of the horse (getting too hot and then potentially too cold if clipped) versus scheduling issues with the lesson and weather.

In the past when I have run into this situation, I just clip the underside of the neck and do the rest of it later. In this case, I don’t want to break the clipping into two times as I try to avoid medicating the horse if unnecessary.

Moving the lesson is problematic as we are already having to reschedule next week’s lesson. Our schedules are such that there are not many time slots that I can make-up a lesson. Typically this is not an issue.

As to clipping after the lesson,I would be worried. I like to rinse the horse off afterwards to get rid of the loose hair to prevent itching. If I do that, since his legs and belly will still be yak like, I wouldn’t be able to put on a blanket as it would be several hours later before he was dry. Plus I like someone around for an extended period after he sedated in case there are issues. If I stayed, this would put me at the barn really late.

Lastly, THANK YOU to those who have answered the question.

[Zu_Zu]

@sheltoneb

To clarify, it is not that I don’t like the advise of the posters, it is several did not answering the question or I didn’t understand the response. Sorry it came out as snarky! Hopefully the additional info/answers below clarify any confusion.

To reiterate, the question is: Is it safe to ride at 4:45 if he is given the gel at 1:30. The vet said it would be fine, however, I don’t have much experience using sedatives and wanted to double check. I absolutely do not intend on riding if he is sedated at the time of the lesson. This includes if I do it and he is still sedated. If it matters, I ride Dressage at Training Level so no jumping or much lateral work.

I have also emailed the question to my instructor to get her option. She is very responsive to emails and I expect a response either tonight or tomorrow morning.

I just want to make sure that what I do is safe for both me and the horse. I am trying to balance the need of the horse (getting too hot and then potentially too cold if clipped) versus scheduling issues with the lesson and weather.

In the past when I have run into this situation, I just clip the underside of the neck and do the rest of it later. In this case, I don’t want to break the clipping into two times as I try to avoid medicating the horse if unnecessary.

Moving the lesson is problematic as we are already having to reschedule next week’s lesson. Our schedules are such that there are not many time slots that I can make-up a lesson. Typically this is not an issue.

As to clipping after the lesson,I would be worried. I like to rinse the horse off afterwards to get rid of the loose hair to prevent itching. If I do that, since his legs and belly will still be yak like, I wouldn’t be able to put on a blanket as it would be several hours later before he was dry. Plus I like someone around for an extended period after he sedated in case there are issues. If I stayed, this would put me at the barn really late.

Lastly, THANK YOU to those who have answered the question.

^ Jingles for your Friday to work out smoothly !

[Displaced_Yankee]

Is it safe? I don’t think anyone can tell you that for sure.

Would I do it? Heck no.

It’s January, and at least here in NC, not many of us are pushing back the frontiers of dressage right now. Missing a few weeks of lessons is not enough to justify potential injury to me or my horse by riding him too soon after sedation.* 18-24 hours off won’t be the end of your dressage career.

Also, Murphy’s Law: because you have a tight timetable suddenly you can’t find your extension cord. Or Susie Boarder is taking too much time in the wash stall.Or you forgot you’re out of clipper oil. Or your horse takes longer to “go under” this time. Then you are rushing and rushing is when accidents happen.

• I see the potential injury as horse falling or tripping under saddle. Generally not being able to get his feet under him when he needs to stay upright.

[FraggleRock]

I wouldn’t ride that close after using dorm.
I’d do the lesson then bath and clip (search wet clipping, sounds like it works well!) and wait around a few hours afterwards, or preferably wait and clip Saturday. I also feel like sedating at 1:30 and then a lesson at 4:45 feels a bit rushed, which is a great opportunity for clippers to stop working or some other catastrophe to happen.

[J-Lu]

If you give the gel at 1:30, experience with the gel (I use it for shoeing) tells me he won’t be groggy until 2:30. Yes, it takes an hour to hit full sedation. For a full dose, my horse is groggy for 2 hours. I can put him out (says my vet) but I don’t because he’s groggy. I wouldn’t think of riding at this point. Also, he sweats with the full sedation. I now give 3/4 dose and he’s good for about an hour and good to go out after that. But I would not ride.

Is it safe? That’s impossible to answer. Individuals respond differently to drugs. It will be safe if nothing happens during your ride, and not safe if something does. It is your choice to take the risk.

[luvmyhackney]

I will not ride a horse that has been sedated same day. His body needs a chance to process and recover from the drugs.

[S1969]

@Scribbler

I have to say, I don’t ride after the horse has been sedated that day. Even if they seem fine. It’s got to have some effect. I wouldn’t be likely to go to the gym if I’d been tranqed for some minor medical procedure either.

This.

Just because the horse seems fine after the sedation wears off, it’s highly unlikely that there is absolutely no residual effect of a sedative.

In general, when I think of things like this I decide whether it’s in my best interest or the horse’s best interest.

I want to clip AND ride in a 3 hour time frame? NO.
I have to sedate and trailer for a medical problem and/or emergency? YES.

Is either safe? Maybe not. But I’m willing to chance my horse falling if it’s important for him to get to the clinic. Not because I wanted my Friday to be convenient.