HorseAdvice.com Equine & Horse Advice: Throat injections

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	Discussion on Throat injections
Author	Message
Member: kamibroo	Posted on Saturday, Nov 24, 2007 - 10:33 pm: I've heard trainers talk about "blocking the throat" or "injecting the throat" for horses that have breathing problems. None of the trainers could tell me what was being injected (either the drug or the exact part of the throat). This is done for horses who are racing. Would you have any idea of what they're injecting and the purpose or effect that it's having? any long term effects? Sorry that I don't know more, but that is all they can (or will?) tell me. Thanks
Member: mike29az	Posted on Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007 - 10:27 am: Hi, From what I understand they inject an anti-inflammatory such as Flucort. It is supposed to help decrease the inflammation in the throat area and thus help "strengthen" the area so the horse does not flip its palette so easily. Much less invasive then surgery. I've heard it helps some and many it doesn't - just depends on the horse and how severely he flips his palette. The vet should know where to inject but it is around the palette area. Personally I see no performance enhancing effect other than if it helps, the horse can breathe normally [which is a good thing] but he will not get any unnatural burst of speed! It is risky because with an injection you could introduce an infection and getting an infection in that area would be very bad.