Yesterday the wind blew very hard and Wildairo was galloping around and going crazy for most of the day. I knew I was in for trouble even though the wind had died down that evening.
Wildairo would not let me put his halter on so we could get him sedated for the farrier. I put him in to the little pen to try again, but no luck. He was acting very out of character by appearing uninterested in us and hanging his head over the gate the other side of the pen and ignoring us. When I tried to put the halter on he would toss his head up.
The idea is to give him the sedative when he's calm and let him remain calm for at least 15 minutes for it to work, otherwise he will blow right through it like he did before. We called the farrier and postponed it. We will try again over the weekend. Right now he continues to be just horrid. He comes up to see me and soon as he sees the halter he takes off. I'm super mad at him and it's a real challenge for me to speak to him in a nice voice because I want to murder him. Coming to think of it he listens better when I get mad at him.
Friday, May 8, 2009
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7 comments:
Take a deep breath and remember it will not always be that way. Sometimes when you get frustrated and they get in their moods its better to call it a day and try again tomorrow with clear heads and a fresh start.
Sometimes it seems like they sense something is going to happen. Beautiful ALWAYS acts like she knows when the farrier is coming. I'm probably sending off some unsubtle signal!! They're smart!! Hope he does well tomorrow for you!
Good luck with the farrier. I remember when Catlow had her teeth done...she was all drugged up, but when the vet approached her with the speculum, she tried to stumble away from him.
And Chico actually can process those sedative drugs very rapidly. A normal dose will put him under, but sooner than most animals, he'll need another dose to keep him drowsy (that's what we discovered when he had the huge horrible gash in his leg that needed cleaning and stitches).
And if you were really as nervous about this as you sounded in previous posts, he might have been able to sense it and that's why he wouldn't let you catch him.
He could sense I was very tense. We had to sedate him 15 minutes before he caught sight of the farrier. Once he sees the STRANGER he gets worked up so I wanted to get him dopey while it was just Brad and me. According to the vet once they get excited they 'blow through' the sedation.
The farrier called when he was 20 mins out so there wasn't much time to spare. I was rushing and very nervous and he said "No go".
We're shooting for Sunday now. I went out this evening and after I could move him around by his chin for awhile I slipped a halter on him. I did it about ten times and he was OK with it. I thought we were past all that but it looks like we had a little step back.
Nikki, you are so right. Brad kept encouraging me and saying "Come on you can get the halter on" but I knew he was in a funny mood and knew he was so excitable the sedative wouldn't work. Tonight we were OK again although he was still acting excited and trotting around looking over the rock wall.
I'm sorry he ruined your plans. I hope it works out next time. Sounds like he's a sensitive one.
Can you put a halter on him earlier in the day without worrying about him getting caught on something? Maybe even leave a drag line? Of course that might get him excited too. It's too bad that the sedative doesn't work if they're already upset.
Andrea I'm going to put a halter on him this morning and hope it doesn't get caught on anything. I think there's less for him to get it hooked on in that big corral. Thanks for the advice.
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