General anesthesia in pleasure horses

Anesthetic management of the pleasure horse consists of the appropriate selection and administration of pre-anesthetic medications including anticholinergics, tranquilizers and narcotics followed by appropriate techniques of anesthetic induction. The anesthetic induction must vary somewhat for the pleasure horse practice since many of the procedures are completed on farms and ranches. As a result the inducing of anesthesia will frequently be with the same agent which will be used to maintain anesthesia. Noticeably will be the reduction and duration of anesthesia and surgical time. The induction of anesthesia will predominately be with ultra-short barbiturates alone or in combination with muscle relaxants or combinations of tranquilizers and dissociative anesthetics. Supplemental injections of intravenous agents or halothane, methoxyflurane or enflurane may be used to maintain anesthesia. Recoveries can be expected to vary according to the duration of anesthesia and the selection of agents that have been used. Anesthetic complications predominately consist of cardiopulmonary responses and those associated with recovery.