How to administer medication to your horse?

It is good when you are a rider to be able to administer care to your horse. This is especially true when the case is urgent and waiting for the vet can take time. How do you administer medication to your horse? We talk about it in this article.

Administration of an oral paste

It is necessary to check that the animal's mouth is clean and does not contain food before administering the medication. Complete absorption of the dose requires correct administration of the medication (as for a dewormer). To do this, simply grasp the horse's tongue between the bars (space behind the incisors where the bit is placed when the animal is bridled) and hold it firmly to the side. It is then possible to place the paste as far as possible above the tongue without risking being bitten. Indeed, the horse would first bite its tongue. The syringe must then be taken out before releasing the tongue while keeping its head in the air. The horse then swallows by reflex, which allows the administration of the medication without loss of product.

Intramuscular administration

This is the most common injection route, with the preferred location being the neck. In fact, administration into the neck presents the least risk. The pharmacist must ensure that the owner of the equine is able to correctly perform an IM. To do this, he must be reminded of the anatomical limits of an IM injection at the neck. Such an injection must be located in a space between one hand width below the mane, one hand width above the jugular groove and one hand width in front of the shoulder defect.

It is also necessary to remember the importance of changing the location in this area with each new injection in order to distribute the product and limit edema and inflammation at the injection site (represent a virtual watch in this area and prick the first day at 12 noon, the next day at 3 am, then at 6 am, 9 am and finally in the center). In the case of a jewelry injection (morning and evening), one will be performed on the left and the other on the right.

In order to avoid the introduction of external germs into the deep muscles, the chicane technique can be practiced. It consists of pinching the skin and pricking through the skin fold up to the guard of the needle before injecting, then removing the needle and finally releasing the skin. The perforation of the skin is thus offset with that of the muscle, a hermetic and natural barrier is created between the external environment and the deep part of the muscle.

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Intravenous administration

Such an injection requires good technique and precautions to inject in the right place and not touch the carotid artery that passes deep under the middle of the neck. To do this, the owner must inject in the upper third of the neck, or a hand width below the mandible.

It is advisable to compress the vein with the thumb while raising the equine's head. This allows the vein to swell and thus to clearly visualize it. The bevel of the needle must be directed towards the center of the vein and the product must be injected gradually by "bubbling".

This technique involves drawing up blood to mix it with the product and injecting it gradually while regularly remixing a little blood. Finally, it is also advisable to draw up blood one last time before removing the needle from the vein. In addition, using a 3-piece syringe helps prevent accidental injections into the artery. Indeed, if the needle is inserted into the artery, the blood pressure causes the plunger to retract, which alerts before the injection. Since the venous pressure is very low, the plunger remains in place when released during insertion into the vein.

Finally, it is useful to warm the product before injection by placing the vial under hot water when the room temperature is below 5 degrees.