I read an article once about someone trying everything and nothing worked until she put the meds inside a Dunkin’ Donuts jelly filled munchkin.
Buy a bag of cheapo “Sweet Feed”, the kind w/ whole oats and lots of molasses. This has worked many times for fussy ones.
Honestly eyeing the oatmeal crème cakes here at work since those were the go-to treat at an old barn - I just don’t remember if this horse was one who would eat them!
Like another poster mentioned, peppermint flavored syrup for coffees is probably worth a try.
Can order on Amazon.
Worked a treat for my old TB that loved peppermints and hated all supps / meds.
Same horse also proclaimed Purina Gastric Care as the tastiest grain ever.
I think I’ve seen people take large carrots and cut a wedge out of one side lengthwise to put the poprocks. Not sure how they sealed them in though.
Ha, I did this, although I hollowed it out from the end. Seal it up with frosting!!
Yup, hollowed out chunks in a FAT carrot works, or an apple .
The Abler website suggests carrots dunked in oil (which doesn’t dissolve the enteric coating) then rolled in the pop rocks. That might be worth a shot!
I also have concocted my own German Horse Muffins (because I’m cheap and they also were a little too tough to get the pills into) for my guys heart meds (12 tic tac sized pills twice daily). I used this recipe as a base https://marialouisedesign.com/2022/03/03/learn-how-to-make-your-own-horse-pill-pockets/ but added some canola oil to make it even a bit more malleable. This last round was great, like a playdough consistency, that you could likely just add the pop rocks to and hand feed as a treat.
My mare LOVES Quakers Old Fashioned OATMEAL, NOT THE INSTANT KIND, mixed with water and a cup of BOSS.
Her favorite breakfast!!
Another person who has very good luck hiding meds in fig newtons.
I have also had very good luck with Mask R Aid granules.
My horse recently needed Doxy. I dissolved his favorite mints in water, added the powder and syringed, followed by a regular mint.
a couple of peppermints in a coffee grinder with the sucralfate- put the buzzed up powder on the feed.
If you have a horse that doesn’t have a sugar issue, I’ve done dark brown sugar in the coffee grinder with the pills too
I’ve had good luck hiding meds in fig newtons.
Have you tried feeding from a pan instead of a bucket? It helped with my guy. I think the low sides allow any oder to disappate so they don’t notice the meds as much.
If they still make it as sweet and sticky as they did many years ago that would be my go to. Never had a horse strong enough to refuse a handful or 2 even with something suspicious in there. I haven’t bought a bag in at least 15 years though. It may have been changed/ altered a bit with everyone knocking molasses.
Omolene is my go-to “how sick is this horse?” feed. If they won’t eat THAT, something is for sure wrong!
Well he was NOT about any cookies, syrup, or hand feeding. I haven’t tried peppermint syrup - but he wouldn’t touch the rest.
However, he is currently eating his sucralfate in his dinner. Or, he’s eaten some of it and I’m hoping he will finish it. Not ideal for the “empty stomach” thing, but maybe an option. I may go get a bag of Omelene to see if that will tempt him to eat the sucralfate in a smaller amount of grain. Worst case, it’s a yummy treat
Have you tried the compounded sucralfate that you can get in flavored powder?
So I have a horse like this that laughs at me when I try to hide meds.
And while omolene works pretty well for my others, she really sees right through it. It’s a shame you can’t buy like…five pounds of it, instead of 50. It’s tough to work through a bag!
Just to give a little perspective I have a pony who turned her nose up against any supplements, anything soaked, any meds, an absolute nightmare rearing for syringed meds.
Well she coliced badly and it was life or death and very touch and go for days. I had to syringe meds in her 3-4x a day. She would only eat dry feed and not a lot of it plus hay. I tried idk 15 kinds of grain beet pulp soaked cubes everything.
After a month of ulcer treatment and hindgut treatment she started hoovering everything. She’s now eating soaked feed and alfalfa pellets with a bunch of supplements and electrolytes. This was a pony who almost put me on the floor for syringed electrolyte paste. After about 3 weeks of syringing everything into her she just gave up and is now perfect barely even needing a halter.
It’s not a fun process and it’s not easy but keep on trying. If their stomach hurts then anything they eat can make it hurt. Once you get rid of the pain you’ll have a whole new horse.