Horse jugular - AKA fishing for a garden hose

Today I got to inject a horse in the jugluar with a sedative so the ferrier could do his job. Having worked with small animals for so long I have loads of experience drawing blood and giving injections - but my largest patient was maybe 120 pounds and he couldn't run me down if he didn't like the tiny prick of the needle. When our professor asked who wanted to do the stick, I jumped at the chance (even though today is Kip's birthday and I probably should have shoved him to the front). A big difference with injecting horses, besides their sheer size, is you have to be careful not to stick the needle in the carotid artery. One way to be sure you have the correct vessel is to hold off on the neck, insert the needle first (without the syringe attached) and then take your hold off the vessels to let the blood flow. If the blood flows slowly and sluggishly, you have the jugular (blood pumped back to the heart via the venous system moves slowly since it is farther from the pump). If the blood is bright red and spurts out, you have hit the carotid artery (blood is pulsing and is more oxygenated). I got the needle in the correct position on my first try, but of course made a complete bloody mess by taking too much time to get the syringe attached. Such is life.

I have to say overall it was a pretty terrifying cool experience. But I'm still sticking with the tiny four-leggeds.....