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Discussion on Using a Twitch..Humane or Cruel?
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Member:
Suzeb
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005 - 2:20 pm:
Hello Dr.O and all,
I have often wondered about this method of restraint and if it is a good or bad way to restrain your horse.
Does it do any harm or should I be avoiding this at all costs?
Susan B.
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Member:
Sunny66
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005 - 3:25 pm:
My personal opinion? It depends 
I honestly don't know if it's just harmful pyschologically, but not necessarily physically, I'll let others respond to that.
If the horse needs a treatment right away and it's to the horses' health benefit. I would twitch so I could help the horse get healthy asap.
I do shoulder twitch, but then again, I'm very lucky that I have a horse that is amenable to most things.
I had one vet that wanted to twitch his nose for EVERYTHING. I had to say no.
I did, however, let him be twitched for injecting his hocks and coffin joint, as one move could be detrimental to my horses' health.
Training and trust goes a long way toward not having to twitch for most everything IMO.
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Member:
Dres
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005 - 3:37 pm:
I will say if it involves my safety or the vets then I WILL TWITCH... I have also used a lip chain too... I don't believe there is any harmful effects unless abused for excessive time periods... I have a lot of young horses and at times when they need to be treated for an injury I have used the above devices... long run tho, WORK WITH YOUR HORSES TO BECOME MORE TOLERANT....
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with SPOTS..
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Member:
Aewheele
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005 - 4:45 pm:
My vet told me that a twitch is not at all cruel. He said that placing it on the lip releases Endorphins (or some other feel-good chemical) into the blood stream of the horse.
Dr. O, what do you think?
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Member:
Suzeb
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005 - 10:57 pm:
To specifically describe what procedures my horse needs to have done is this:
Intranasal Vaccines
Teeth floating
Farrier work on the front feet
Hock injections from time to time
These are things that I need him to be still for. Not only for his own safety, but for those that have to administer these treatments.
He is generally a sweetheart when it comes to intramuscular or intravenous injections. Sheath cleaning is not a problem.
All in all he is pretty laid back about most things being done to him except being restrained.
In my experience, it would be more dangerous for everyone involved to put him in cross ties than a halter and lead rope.
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005 - 11:35 pm:
I've also always been told that twitching, when done properly, releases endorphines. I know that some of my horses like me to grab their noses with my hand and pull on it, which I suppose does the same thing.
There are some procedures that need to be done that require a horses to be very still; and there are others that I can't imagine a horse standing for without either being twitched or sedated. Also, there have been one or two rather ill mannered mares we have twitched to breed. I think it's better to use a twitch than have someone or the horse get hurt.
However, I don't believe you should ever twitch a horse's ears, which I have seen done.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 - 7:24 am:
Just like many pieces of horse restraint equipment it can be used humanely or cruelly. I have added a section on using and making a twitch in the article, Training Horses » Training Your Horse's Mind » Working Around Horses Safely.
DrO
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Member:
Sunny66
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 - 10:32 am:
What about tranquilizing him for the floating? I'm not sure how the vet could do his work with the twitch in the way doing the floating or the intranasal.
On the front feet. What does he do? Will he let you pick his front feet?
Have you tried picking up his front feet and holding them for periods of time, gradually extending the time...then taking a hammer to them first softly, then a bit harder, etc.
If it's because his back feet hurt. Bute him. I've buted my horse for the last 4 or 5 shoeings. He's much more amenable to having his legs manipulated when on bute if I'm not there. Besides, I keep my farrier that way
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Member:
Suzeb
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 - 12:11 pm:
Hi Aileen,
Yes, he does get a tranquilizer for teeth floating and while he is under the influence he also gets his intranasal vaccines.
It is the shoeing that is becoming a real pain. I did bute him last time he was reshod and set and that seemed to help somewhat. He likes to pull his front feet away when the farrier is trying to nail on a shoe. I am surprised he hasn't been "quicked" more often. Other than that, I can pick up and pick out his front feet. Last winter, I used a small blunt headed hammer for removing snow and ice ball buildup. The hammering didn't bother him at all  .
I have never twitched his ears or even considered it. That is one area he does love having scratched though  .
Glad to know that twitching is not a bad thing when done safely and correctly. I too want my vet and farrier in one piece.
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Member:
Chance1
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 - 12:35 pm:
Hi Aileen,
I, too, twitch, if necessary, for certain vet procedures, however not for teeth. My equine dentist uses enough "sleepy juice" to make him cooperative. He also has a trailer he has converted to a dental room, with a "squeeze" to keep them standing, a built in adjustable headrest and built in tools, just like in the human dental office. It makes the process go much more quickly. The dentist is even able to sit on a stool to do the work so he doesn't get too tired either since he does about 8 horses a day when he visits the barn. But for shoeing, my farrier is very attuned to my horse, Chance, who can be difficult. He takes his time and switches feet if he feels Chance is getting tired of having one leg up too long. There has been a steady improvement over the past year with this farrier. I spend lots of time working with him on this in between shoeings. I do the work at the barn and often in the arena as a break from work and on the trail. I also do some of the work while the farrier is working on another horse. We stand nearby and go through a "dry run", but not on the day he is to be shod. Hope some of this helps.
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Member:
Ajudson1
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 - 2:40 pm:
On the pulling away on front feet issue: My Freison mix did that. I tried all sorts of things and finally took to tapping the front of his leg everytime he "flung" it out. He doesn't do that any more. He is still terrible with having his teeth done, even under sedation he still reacts. Tomorrow will be fun, the equine dentist is coming.
I use a rope under the lip of one of our horses that fights the farrier. (She's fine for regular cleaning, I think she just don't like men) It's just clothesline rope, the soft kind not nylon. I have a loop on one end with a hook, and a few loops on the other end, for adjusting, with another hook. I hook it to her halter on one side, and then the other side. Her head DrOps right away and she's fine with everything.
I've heard that the device called "the Stabilizer" is awesome for it's calming affects. Many people swear by it, haven't heard anyone swear at it yet. It's also a rope/cord under the lip along with some knots for hitting pressure points. I've often wondered if an equine dentist could work with that and his special halter on the horse at the same time?
I have trouble getting the twitch on the lip, so I prefer a rope under the lip. Plus by hooking it, which is the same concept the Stabilizer uses, my hands are free to hold the horse for the farrier.
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Member:
Sunny66
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 - 6:24 pm:
Good input!
Susan,
Ask if he might do two nails, then set the foot down, check reaction, then do the rest. This worked for Brave, gave him a chance to rest. Also, if Brave is due for an adequan shot, I bute the night before and the am of the appointment.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Sep 30, 2005 - 7:09 am:
The lip chain (or rope in this case) has the further advantage over a twitch that it can be a powerful training device if you remember that release of the pressure during good behavior is a stronger lesson than a jerk when bad.
I don't like a twitch when floating as it puts the operator right in front of the horse, a place you should not be with a twitched horse (see article I reference above for more on this).
DrO
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Member:
Suzeb
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Posted on Friday, Sep 30, 2005 - 6:14 pm:
Thank you Dr.O for the revision in your article on the twitch.
Just so everyone knows, I have never used a twitch for teeth floating nor has my vet. He gets a power float every year because he has stuff going on in the very back of his mouth that would be difficult to address with a hand float. Plus the added hardware of a mouth speculum would not make this conducive to using a twitch in this situation.
My main objective in this discussion is to find out if this is a good method of restraint to use on my horse who has front feet issues (sore heels). He used to stand very good for the farrier before we had this problem. Not so anymore.
Susan B.
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Member:
Stacie
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Posted on Monday, Oct 3, 2005 - 2:08 pm:
Susan,
On Dusty, our 20+ year old palomino, we actually give him 1 1/2cc of Tranqivet and 1 1/2cc of Ace 30 minutes prior to the farrier working on him to ensure he is comfortable as he has torn his digital flexor tendon. It is great and also is a anti-inflammatory for him as well the vet has told me. This just makes the farrier and he have a better time overall. It wears off relatively quick as well. About an 1 1/2 hours, so we are all done by the time he is back to his old self. Just my input.
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Member:
Suzeb
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Posted on Monday, Oct 3, 2005 - 3:01 pm:
Thanks Stacie for your input on the chemical restraint. My vet did recommend the other day that I could try 2ccs' of Atrovet (Acepromezine) 1/2 hour before the farrier goes to work on the front feet. This is given intramuscularly and is available over the counter. Makes me a little nervous though sedating my own horse without a vet hanging around.
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Member:
Brandi
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Posted on Monday, Oct 3, 2005 - 10:15 pm:
Susan, I have a horse that required sedation for the farrier for years, he had a lot of arthritis pain and the fear of pain led to a horse that was terrified of the shoer's building (he worked out of a vet clinic, so I trailered to him). He would sweat and tremble from the moment we arrived, not to mention how difficult it was for him to allow the work to be done. Since we were at a vet clinic, sedation was easily available, and for about 8 years, that's how every shoeing was done for him. However, my farrier retired last year and my new guy comes to me (yeah). For the first couple of shoeings we didn't give Moon anything other than a little extra bute (he's on 1g per day maintenance), but soon he began to show the old signs of pain & fear. The extra bute wasn't doing the trick. But for the past 8 months or so, I've been giving him 10cc's of IM banamine and that has made a world of difference. I too am leary of sedating my own horse, but am quite comfortable with Banamine injections. Since, as I understand it, banamine also works on involuntary muscle relaxing (sort of, it's why they use it for colics because it eases the intestines), therefore it has an overall relaxing affect for my horse. He gets shoes every 6 weeks, and this has worked great. It might be just enough to help you also, maybe worth a try. But if you give your horse daily bute be sure to obstain from bute before the bananmine because you should not mix the two unless your vet okays it. Good luck.
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Member:
Suzeb
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Posted on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2005 - 1:53 pm:
Thanks Brandi,
The vet is coming out next week for "Herd Health" and I will ask her about the Banamine.
My horse just recently had wedges introduced to his shoeing package. I am fortunate that my farrier can come to me and I can't sing enough praises about this nice young man. He has been very tolerant of my horse and this foot pulling.
We always have a discussion about; Do you want me to bute him, sedate him etc.etc.etc. and my farrier always says no it's OK. He would like to see my horse sober, before and after he is reset. He is quite meticulous and caring this way. He wants to see that his work is making a difference.
Hence the question about the twitch. As for the teeth floating, I have to haul him down to the Vet College for this. They have stocks to put him in and there is lots of sleepy juice available.
It is a teaching hospital so he gets lots of attention. He quite likes it there so it can be difficult getting him back in the trailer to go home.
We are not on the Bute daily yet, only as needed.
Yes, he does have arthritic issues and we have been able to manage this with Hyaluronic Acid IV and some steady movement to keep the joints limber.
Susan B.
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