How to hold my strong foal to treat him?

[Isaline]

I need to give oral antibiotics to my foal three times a day for 10 days.

Problem: he is 3 weeks old, weights more than I do, and I will be alone most of the time to treat him. He is also not at all keen on being handled (he is just back from the clinic where he was treated for septicemia)

What is the best way to do it?

I thought I would catch him, back him into a corner of the stall and try to put the syringe in his mouth while I am holding him with one arm around his neck. But he will probably fight me pretty hard.

Any other idea? He is not halter trained yet, and I don’t want to tie him to the wall.

[Elfe]

Try to catch him when he is lying down. If you are fast you can get it into him before he realizes what is going on. It is also easier to hold them down that way.
If you can’t catch him down, try to get him in a corner, stick your finger in his mouth and when he opens it quickly stick the syringe in it while depressing it at the same time. The key is to be really fast and to surprise them. I hide the syringe behind my back when I approach, they seem to catch on pretty quickly to what is going on !
Good luck !

[Polydor]

Can you get someone to help you out the first time and get a halter on him? Then leave the halter on for the duration of the treatment. He’s going to have to get use to having a halter at some point and will be easier on both of you.

If you can’t do that, I would suggest using the wall to help you and maybe worst comes to worst give him a neck twitch so he at least stands still for the 2 seconds it takes to get the meds in.

Good luck!

P.

[alliekat]

Spend as much time as possible in the stall offering scratches to him. That way everytime he sees you it is not to be wrestled for treatment. It is a great idea if you can get to him when he is down but please be very careful about squatting down in front of him to dose him. They can spring up very quickly, especially once he learns what your intentions are for him. If you can’t get him while he is down, pressing him against the wall is the way to go. I use scratching to help develop a bond with my foals from the start. Once I find that magic spot I will scratch for a few seconds then almost lightly push them and turn and walk a few steps away. Then I will lower my upper body to encourage him to come to me. As soon as he comes to me I continue to scratch until he really starts to get into it. Then repeat the process by lightly pushing him away and stepping away. Do that several times and then leave him alone. Always leave him when he is still itchy and interested in you. Try to leave because it was your idea and not his. Good luck. If you have any other question I would be happy to help. Here is a video we took yesterday of our 2 1/2 week old foal. Good luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFV4EBEINmw

[Emy]

Alliekat’s video is great (cute foal!). I like to use curry’s to groom the foals before and after you do something negative to them, and they LOVE it. For the “slippery” ones I like to use a thick cotton lunge line wrapped around their body to give me greater control when I am solo. I would train the foal to halter ASAP. A soft, short grab strap attached to the halter sounds like it might also come in handy with this one for the first while too. Our mares know how to tie, so I will loosely tie them with a quick release so it keeps them from circling around the stall which makes baby want to circle around the stall. Usually you can “catch” the foal between the tied mare and wall. They still feel safe tucked in beside mom and you can nab them. My only word of caution would be to make sure your mare will tolerate this, if she is anxious you might need 3 people the first few times, 1 to hold mom, and 2 to handle baby. Foal should be able to halter and lead a few steps like Alliekats and quietly pick up its feet by now. When we have had ones that need medications the extra time and handling spent with them generally makes them extra friendly in the long run, so stay persistent.

[siegi_b]

It sounds like you will definitely need help in order to make sure the colt gets his medication.

There are lots of good suggestions here on how to get the foal used to human intervention, but in the meantime he needs his meds and you need help.

Here’s one of my suggestions - get a halter with a dangling strap to put on the colt. It makes it somewhat easier to catch the foal and gives you something to hold onto…

Good luck!

[Tiki]

They had to have had a halter on him at the clinic I would think to handle him there. Definitely do not make your only visits and handling of him for his medicine. All my foals have baby halters on them within about 12 hours of birth and they are handled and led with Mum from the beginning, picking up their feet and all.

If you do try backing him into a corner, DON’T stand in front of him. Rather squash him against a wall with his butt up against another wall. He could leap right up on you or strike you in the face if you stand in front of him.

[Bravestrom]

Halter him - this is exactly one of the reasons you want a halter on them as soon as possible.

Every time I feed the mare - while she is eating, the foal gets lots of handling. Touched all over - play with his mouth, ears, feet - touch him everywhere - including his private areas. I spend extra time on any sensitive or touchy areas. Not only are they halter trained, but also trained to move around without a halter - all our horses are trained to move around with a hand on their nose and one on their poll, a leadshank around their neck and also trained to move around with their blanket being pulled.

Alot of people just halter train, but these additional leading techniques can come in quite handy in an emergency when a halter is not available or they have broken loose.

Our colt is now a month old and he already leaves the stall when mom is eating - part of my process - but it makes it so much easier if mom and baby are easy to separate and are used to quick little separations when it is not necessary.

Good luck with your little guy- tough to have to deal with so much so young.

[SmartAlex]

Sounds like a two man job to me.

To safely restrain a foal: Put one arm under their jaw around their neck, put the other hand under their tail grasping the tail bone firmly but gently with your palm against the underside, lifting the tail (keeps them from backing out on you). Press the foal against a safe, solid, smooth wall preferably with their butt close to the corner. Put your knee under their belly and firmly against a wall lifting up a bit. Lean against him/her and hold on.

Obviously, if you’re holding the foal this way, you will not have two extra hands to administer medication, but trust me, you can hold a pretty large and lively foal that way without traumatizing them or risking injury to their neck.

[stoicfish]

I had to give ulcer medicine to my colt for a month. He had a thing for black liquorice (his mom’s favourite), so I would give him some to start with, then the medicine, then more black liquorice and lots of positive attention. Never had trouble and at the end I didn’t even use a halter. The advice would be to make it as pleasant as possible with the least amount of fighting. Every horse is different but if you can make it not so scary it might make it easier on you and him. If you have time, just hang out and find what he likes in terms of scratches or food.
I guess you might also try to see if he would suck a bottle with a bit of milk replacer (or goat milk) and put the medication in there. I would try it a couple of times with just the milk then start adding in the medicine in case it tastes strong. You might need to corner him the first time to get the nipple in his mouth but he should come around quickly if this is going to work.

[tuckawayfarm]

I have had to do a lot of medicating and bandaging on foals without help. Thankfully mine are comfortable being haltered within their first few days. I do exactly what has been advised, pushing them against a wall with their butt in a corner.

For oral meds, I dip the end of the syringe in Karo syrup. It’s cheap, easy, and they love it. After the first wrestling match, they stop arguing and start looking for their “treat”.

[crosscreeksh]

Second the Karo syrup!! Two years ago I had to medicate a foal 2x a day for 3 weeks. I disolved the med in a bit of warm water and drew up 8-10 cc of Karo in with the meds, leaving the tip of the syringe covered in syrup. The foal came to LOVE taking her meds and greeted me at medicine time. I also use a little leather halter for the treatment. It provides a handle on their head so you don’t have to wrestle them so much and also starts the leading process by being able to move them around a bit…then remove halter.

[omare]

Ditto making it a sweet experience–I think our now grown filly bonded with me forever due to the fact I was the person that gave her the goodie syringe twice a day.

[Mozart]

You need to get him halter broke, like, yesterday. It is possible to singlehandedly medicate a foal but to start off you do need to hang onto something. I had a colt last year that needed oral antibiotics for three months…add to that ulcer meds and probiotics and he was getting oral meds 3x day.

Getting the halter with a grap strap on will be first priority. Either do it while he is down and sleeping (be careful to get out of the way if he scrambles) or get help.

First time haltering with a helper…try to position the foal so that he hindquarters are perpendicular to the mare. This is a two person job. One person will have one arm aound his chest (not his neck, too vulnerable to damage) and the other around his hindquarters.

Once you have a breakable halter with a grab stap on I would leave it on until he gets more accustomed to the handling.

Life will be much easier if you make the meds very tasty. Here is what I did:

Find an old large sized syringe, like for probiotics or electrolytes.

Put required number of pills in a snack sized plastic disposable baggie (like a sandwich type bag but much smaller)

Add about quarter cup of sweetened applesauce (or enough to dissolve the antibiotics). Once dissolved (takes a few hours to fully dissolve) take your syringe and make a medication “parfait”.

First layer, in the nozzle, is a layer of corn syrup. Then cut little hole in the coner of your plastic baggie and squirt in a layer of medicated applesauce. Alternate layers and end with corn syrup.

Colt was not entirely keen the first couple times but pretty soon he slurped it up quite happily. After about a week I didn’t even have to put his halter on, when he saw me with the syringe he would open his mouth and just go for it. Take your time, don’t try to squirt everything at once. Small squeeze, let him swallow, another small squeeze, etc. Don’t rush.

Also, since interaction with humans has probably been less than wonderful, try to take time to just hang out with him when you can, find all of his itchy spots and spend time scratching him.

I am a one woman operation so I prefer to find a way to make it easier for horse and human and I was able to medicate him by myself for three months.