26th January, 2007

I've had a very interesting day. I was called out to a horse that was refusing to let the vet take the staples out of a wound on it's shoulder. This horse, who is normally very sweet, has definitely turned sour and had squished the vet and the owners several times. Today we started off by giving her one unit of Sedalin paste which did have some effect. I then offered her lavender, ylang ylang and neroli to sniff which she seemed to enjoy. After this I did some very simple clicker training with her - giving her a click and a pony nut each time she let me put my hand over the wound or allowed me to pinch her neck as the vet would prior to administering a sedative injection. In no time she was accepting both of these (and even wishing I would do it) so that she could get her click and a pony nut. When the vets arrived I asked them to touch her and then I gave her a click and a pony nut and we repeated this as each staple came out. She hardly moved at all and certainly didn't need any further sedative and we were all left feeling very good about the whole experience. Much better than a twitch eh?