When you take your horses to get injections what is your vets protocol? I was always under the impression that it needed to be done in a completely sterile environment? I could be thinking of something else. I was talking with one of our trainers today and he was telling me about one of our local vets doing injections right out in the barn aisle he basically had an assembly line set up because he had a whole barn full of horses to inject. He said he went thru them so quickly he couldn't believe it. I've never had to have anything injected (knock on wood)  he said he had a chiropractor out to look at his horse and he told him to take him to this vet to be injected he was surprised how quickly this guy went from horse to horse to inject . His horse ended up not needing it but he wouldn't take him there if he ever did. Said the guy was just injecting like no big deal unless hes just that good at it... ?? 

Mine scrubs the area with whatever antiseptic wash they use for like 2 minutes (I have no idea really, but seems like they scrub a long time.)and then does the injections.   From sedation to injection it probably takes 15 minutes or so.    Takes them longer to wake up than it does to do the rest of it. 

The horse needs to be in a room free of drafts and dust. A surgical scrub of the area to be injected needs to be done follow proper scrub technique.
An intra articular injection is 1000 times more likely to get infected vs. an IM injection so you cleanliness is a must.

Mine won't inject one at the ranch, have to bring them to the clinic. At the clinic she does them in a room with rubber mats, concrete floors , looks like a prison cell but easily cleaned / washed. She has her assistant scrub, scrub, and scrub some more. She completely scrubs in like a surgeon, and puts on sterile gloves etc. after procedure horse is wrapped and remains In the injection area for at least 30 minutes. Strict instructions to keep dry and wrapped for 24 hours. She says the joint space closes as soon as needle comes out BUT 24 hours minimum for dryness and wrapping. 

So basically the way its being done at said place isnt correct then. I thought it was supposed to be just as you described here. I know anything is possible,  but could a joint injection cause a horse to founder? He told me a friend of his took one in, to this place, on the recommendation of this chiropractor and got injections and horse ended up foundered a few days after. 

The vet I go to for injectons doesn't make farm calls at all, clinic only for anything. And injections & lameness is basically all he does daily. He & his team are fairly quick. He lunges for a basic lameness eval, runs over them to decide what needs injected, and they techs scrub & sedate while he goes and lunges the next horse. Its a very efficient process & he is very no big deal about it, but he said on average he'll do 40-50 injections a day. They don't wrap unless its feet & just suggest stalling for 24 hours & then they can go back outside. I haven't had an issue so far. We usually are in & out in 45-60 minutes with 3 horses unless we have one that needs x-rays or anything. One gets stifles/coffins/hocks, one just hocks, & the other coffins/hocks/osphos.

A guy I used to use will make a stop at a chosen barn & have people haul to him there, but he always chooses a barn with a concrete wash rack that can be cleaned & is away from dust or wind. He doesn't just do it in the aisle of anywhere. I didn't want to make the 4.5-5 hour one way drive to get hocks refreshed last week so I went local & she did it in their exam room. Wrapped them & sent me on my way. If its a clean environment I wouldn't mind having one done on a farm call & if they scrubbed well & wrapped quick. 

YES!!!! Easily can founder. Especilly when doing multiple joints at the same visit. My vet said you can ONLY USE 20mg of steroid at one " Session". SHe did my horses hoicks in one visit and had me come back 2 weeks later for coffins. SHe explained she could do all 4 but would have to lessen dose of steroid to each joint to keep at or under the 20mg. It was easier to just make two visits. 

Cortisone from an injection can cause founder. Horses that have metabolic issues are more prone to laminitis/founder after a cortisone injection . Some vets recommend  not injecting too many joints at once to keep the amount of cortisone used down.

the joint capsule doesn't close or open during an injection. Vets recommend keeping the injection site clean and dry for at least a few hours to give it time to seal back up. No one really knows how long it takes for a needle poke to seal up. 

I disagree. How is it possible for a joint capsule to NOT open during an injection!???? if it's not open how are you going to get meds inside the joint ?? Maybe I misunderstood you. As far as joint capsule closing, my vet says they have done many studies using live X-ray and MRI to figure that stuff out. Who knows. 

you mentioned "joint space" (what I was referring to) staying open. 

but yes, you do puncture them skin and the joint pouch. I've asked the question many times and never gotten a definitive answer on how long it takes the injection site to close. I've always assumed it was about 24 hours.

I have seen it done in this concept hundreds of times... by very well known and big named vets. The horses were all scrubbed very well in the wash rack of the owner's barn and then the vet would inject. They were watchful of dust and would rescrub if they felt anything got dirty. They were several techs that would be scrubbing at once.. so it could definitely go quickly.

I've seen it done too. I've seen it done right outside the arena at a barrel race and at the track. That's not an ideal situation, I want to reduce my risk of infection as mich as possible, I owe it to the horse.

My vet comes to me and does mine. Scrubs the site and then injects. He prefers to have them stand on concrete for less dust.

While working at a top equine veterinary hospital, I saw joints being injected under general anesthesia, standing sedation at the clinic and routinely on farm calls. Ideally, you want the environment to be as dust and wind free as possible, but it does not need to be sterile (as that isn't always possible). I have seen vets inject horses on people's front lawns because they were cleaner and less dusty than the alley ways of their barns. Yes things can go wrong, but the more you can minimize that risk, the better. The veterinarian should replace their pair of sterile gloves after every horse, or if they plan on taking a break between injection sites. The injection site should be scrubbed properly and wiped off with alcohol, never going back over the site after wiping once. I have also seen horses get injected in more than one location at one appointment. I've heard about certain vets that have people lining up for injections on the day of big barrel races, which is a horrible idea for more than one reason. You really don't get any effect from the injections for (at minimum) 3-4 days, usually a week later is when you should start to see a change.