Oral Reserpine

[PrincessPonies]

So next week I need to trailer my horse to the vet. She’ll be coming right back and we shouldn’t be gone more than three hours. The issue is my pony. I’ve had her over the year and she has gotten a little better when I ride. However anything to long or far and she flips out. The pony gets so upset that I do worry she could hurt herself.
With my local vet we have tried just about every non sedative options and nothing has made a dent. Last resort we take the pony with us to the vet. The vet does have a place they can easily put her but pony isn’t the best trailer and tends to upset my horse who normally is a great trailer. Which leads to my horse getting upset at the vet and they ended up giving her a sedative, would really like to avoid this.
Local vet has now suggested Reserpine given orally since there will be someone here with her all day. However I’m concerned since I’ve never used it before and it seems to be something that stays in the system for a long time.
Anyone use it, has experience?

As I said we can and will take pony with us if needed. And long term we have started to look at other options.

[tulachard]

In my experience, Reserpine is for long-term sedation…it takes a few doses for full effect and does “linger” longer. Works great for stall rest but probably wouldn’t be my go-to for short-term sedation. Oral Dormosedan gel perhaps?

[joiedevie99]

I’ve only used reserpine for 30 day + layups. If this is a one-day thing, I’d ask your vet about using some ace pills. Give a solid dose before the other horse leaves, and give another 1-2 every few hours as needed. You could also try dorm gel.

[Hayburner]

Used oral reserpine for long term stall rest. It did take a few days to kick in. Like the others I’d suggest ace tablets/paste or the dorm gel.

[Goforward]

I used reserpine paste orally for a horse and it never began to touch him. We ended up adding Ace to it daily and it still barely worked.
Do you have a friend who could bring another horse to keep the pony company while you’re gone? Or another farm where you could drop the pony off?

[CL_Moonriver]

I would consider Dormosedan. It can be given as an oral gel, but it’s a bit tricky to administer because it has to be given under the tongue. It won’t work if the horse just swallows it.

It can also be given as an IM injection if you are comfortable giving your own injections. It’s pretty safe and can be given in lighter doses to produce pretty light sedation. Just enough to calm them down.

You need a prescription for it, but most horse vets will give you a dose of it if you explain the need to calm the horse down / sedate them a bit before trailering them to the vet.

I’m assuming you’ve already tried / talked to your vet about diazapam (Valium)? In small doses, it can work well to help calm short term anxiety without producing a strong sedative effect.