Yesterday the horses got fall shots, including the dreaded Strangles intranasal vaccine. This year we have no stalls, so convincing horses that they wanted to stand still while the syringe is stuck up their noses was, well, challenging.
Curly, usually the mildest member of our herd, is the most difficult when it comes to the Strangles vaccine. She can sense that it’s coming and, even when in a stall, she does not make it easy.
The options: bribery and a rope twitch. Curly is very, very motivated by food. So she got a handful of grain to set the mood. Then she had the twitch applied to her nose (don’t be too worried about her, the action of the twitch releases endorphins and it’s over in less than a minute). Bingo, the vaccine was administered and no one got hurt (I’m shocked when my vet tells me
that some people refuse to twitch their horses, preferring, I suppose, to let the vet take the brunt of displeasure.)
After the traumatic event, Curly got a bit more grain. I left the bucket on the ground and turned around to see it hanging off her nose! It didn’t worry her in the least. Just like Winnie the Pooh and his honey pot.