Texas Equine Veterinary Association

www.texasequineva.com • 30 THE WHOA PEOPLE by Bo Brock, DVM, DABVP Twenty five years of practicing veterinary medicine has revealed to me a tremendous amount about the human animal bond. I don't know what animals are truly thinking, and no one else does either, but some people think they know everything about that subject. I can spot these people the second they get out of their pickup. They have been watching television and think that they are animal psychologists and want to tell me how to handle animals at the vet clinic. Sheeesh This couple had a horse…they didn't need a horse...but they had one. Let me ask you something, if the only time you ever heard the words "whoa...easy...whoa...easy," someone stuck a needle in you to give a vaccination, what would your response to "whoa...easy" be? The horse got out of the trailer with a happy look on it's face and a mild whinny greeting to the other horses at the clinic. I approached from the office and welcomed the people for their appointment and patted ole' Lucy on the forehead. She gave me a little horse smile response and we ambled to the clinic. The owners began telling me all about the events of the last year in the life of Lucy and brought me up to date on all her health issues. She was just here today for vaccinations and a check up on one minor crack in her hoof. They proceeded to tell me what Lucy was thinking. What she thought about cloudy days, what she thought about the birds that roosted in the tree beside the barn, that she liked the red trailer better that the blue one because red is her favorite color. They went on to tell me that she did not like be ridden so they had stopped doing that years ago, and finally, they assured me that she absolutely hated to be vaccinated. Great. I have been down this road many times trying to vaccinate a needle shy horse, but this one taught me a lesson I will never forget. I filled the syringes with vaccine and headed to Lucy to start the scary task. The couple was distracted at the door of the clinic talking to another client about some person they knew in common. I walked up to Lucy and wiped an area on the neck for the first of 3 injections she would be getting for her vaccinations. Much to my surprise, she took it like a champ. Didn't even bat an eye. I moved to another spot and wiped this area also...gave the injection...no problem at all. I was beginning to think it was my lucky day as I walked around to the side of the horse to give the last injection. This side of the horse made me visible to the couple as they stood in the doorway. They had not even seen me give the two previous shots, so they assumed that this was the first injection the horse was going to get. When they saw me approach, they began hollering from across the clinic, "whoa Lucy…WHOA baby...EASY…easy!" They continued to repeat this phrase over and over with a tone that made every horse in the clinic look around like something terrible was about to happen. When sweet ole' Lucy heard these words, she immediately tightened up like a little kid about to get a spanking. Her eyes got huge and her ears went into hyper-motion mode trying to pin point where the impending assault was coming from. The only time that horse ever heard those words with that tone, something bad was bout to happen, and suddenly Lucy turned mean. Listen, she had already had two shots with out even so much as a blink. Now, I had not even approached her with the third shot, and the formerly kind eyed Lucy was having a come-apart. The couple continued with the "whoa…easy" hollering until they got close enough to reach out and touch Lucy. Then, the wife started talking baby talk and the husband started lecturing me about how to approach a horse and what needed to be said to calm them prior to injections. He asked me if I had ever even vaccinated an animal before. Went on to say he was appalled by my lack of knowledge on horse handling and horse psychology. He then began rubbing the now frantic horse and talking baby talk in unison with his wife. The wife looked at me with a stern expression and high eyebrows and exclaimed, "see how distraught she is now? She was perfectly happy until she saw you come at her unexpectedly with those syringes. YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN to her what you are about to do before you come running at her with a needle!!!!!! Don't you know anything about horses?" The man took the vaccine filled syringe from me and put it up to the horses nose. He let her smell it and then he explained to her that it was for her own good. The wife got out a pouch of horse treats and gave her one at a time and continued to say "Whoa" over and over. The horse never calmed down, it just ate the treats and looked around like maybe there was a giant bear right outside the door. After a good fifteen minutes of vaccine foreplay, I was finally allowed to give the last shot. The wife asked where the other two injections were. When I explained to her that I had already given both of them prior to the horse psychology lecture, her expression went blank and she locked eyes with her husband who was equally stunned. I don't know what animals are thinking. But I do know this, a lot of them are smarter than their owners.

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