Joel Alves, [28 Jan 2025 at 3:46:22 PM]: A quick one. Has anyone ever darted a wild horse? I have one with a bad snare up on the mountains. I would appreciate any protocols! Cobus Raath, [28 Jan 2025 at 3:48:49 PM]: 5 mg etorphine and 10 mg detomidine, if you need to get it down quick Joel Alves, [28 Jan 2025 at 3:49:07 PM]: Thanks, Cobus. And if no detomidine? 5 medetomidine? Cobus Raath, 28 Jan 2025 That will be fine Joel Alves, [28 Jan 2025 at 3:49:47 PM]: Baie dankie!! Ulf Tubessing, [28 Jan 2025 at 5:23:34 PM]: Joel, sometimes they really battle to go down! Not sure why, maybe individual animals with different responses, but I had one that I gave Cobus’ dose 3 x and it just kept on running. I darted it from a helicopter which probably did not help. All darts were well placed and injected. Others went down well on Cobus’ combination. Andreas Gaugler, 29 Jan 2025 Joel, I add 100 mg ketamine to Cobus’ combination Joel Alves, 29 Jan 2025 Hi all. Thanks for the inputs yesterday. I darted this adult mare with 4mg etorphine + 4 mg medetomidine and she was down in just less than 5 minutes. It was a fairly rough immobilization, and she was not extremely stable, so just worked as fast as possible and reversed her. The venous blood was very dark at reversal. Some butorphanol would have perhaps been a good bet, or the ketamine that Andreas mentioned. Tremors and muscle rigidity were significant, despite the alpha-2 agonist present in the dart. Had the immobilization been extended, the medetomidine would possibly have had a more prominent effect and some muscle relaxation. The total down time was 15 minutes and I didn’t push it more after we did what we needed to do. Interesting one for me and a first. Jacs Mostert, 29 Jan 2025 We recently darted a wild stallion for surgery and used 5 mg etorphine + 40 mg azaperone and had him down for 1hr 20min. A little diazepam IV in the beginning helped with the tremors. Joel Alves, 29 Jan 2025 Thanks!
