I have a horse who absolutely refuses to be paste wormed. She’s a very alpha mare and very, very headstrong.
What are some tricks to get her wormed? I’m willing to accept alternative wormers that work and can be put in her feed. Otherwise, what is a good training program to get her to accept a wormer tube and wormer? I will admit that I have an EZ Wormer but have not yet tried to use it. I do not have access to any tranquilizers and probably wouldn’t want to use one if I did.
I had a very small quarter horse mare in the barn (not mine) about 13 hands. You could not get near her with the syringe. I then resorted to putting a towel over her eyes, secured under the halter, and was able to get the wormer into her mouth without difficulty. I ended up doing that for the rest of the years she was with me. No more problems.
I have trained even my most stubborn horses to be dewormed and vaccinated using approach and retreat. Use and old syringe and practice just getting the horse used to it being around by rubbing them on the shoulder and neck, then having it put against their jaw. If the horse stands still, take the syringe away. Once you get the horse to stand reliably for you rubbing it on their body, then start inserting it in her mouth. If she stands quietly, take it away and pet her. You can even add a positive reinforcement such as giving a treat when she stands to be rubbed with the syringe or to have it placed in her mouth.
If she is very resistant and won’t even let you get near her head, consider lunging her for a few minutes every time she pulls away and then trying again.
I use a big scoop of grain in bucket and put (syringe) the wormer paste on top.
Next, I add very warm water to the mixture and stir by sloshing or use a stick to bury the paste
The paste and water are absorbed into the grain in a few minutes.
Serve warm.
It works very well for me.
[QUOTE=Ticker;8611360]
I use a big scoop of grain in bucket and put the wormer paste on top.
Next, I add very warm water to the mixture and stir by sloshing or use a stick to bury the paste
The paste and water are absorbed into the grain in a few minutes.
Serve warm.
It works very well for me.[/QUOTE]
I’v tryed that and my horses wouldn’t eat the grain…Don’t think paste wormers are meant to be mixed with feed.
Horse should really learn to except being de wormed ,with the tube of wormer.
Sorry to hear you were not successful. Choice of grain and warm water temp I have found to be key. I use a senior complete feed from Tribute that has a very appealing sweet smell when infused with warm almost hot water.
I worked and worked with an empty syringe on one of my horses.
Once I got past that, the Sweetie tried holding the paste in his mouth, so he could spit it out when my back was turned.
He got away with that once but I spent a lot years walking him and simultaneously rubbing his throat to make him swallow, lollol
He used to wear me out but never wore me down, lollol
I agree with having someone help by covering the eye and then I place a chain over the upper gums and quickly shoot in the wormer. It works over the nose for some.
I had one like that (a boarder’s horse). Her owner tried the EZ Wormer - it worked once. When the mare colicked, but still objected so vehemently that we were unable to give her oral Banamine and the vet struggled mightily to tube her, we decided it was time to desensitize her. If I simply held the worming syringe in my hand, she’d spin and avoid being caught.
So I started giving her some jelly (grape or strawberry, whatever’s cheap) in an old worming syringe every night when I brought her in. It took several consistent weeks - the first times, I couldn’t even get the syringe near her lips. Then I could get some on her lips, and she realized it didn’t taste too bad. Then, eventually, in her mouth.
It did take weeks. And I still give her a refresher of the plain jelly periodically. But she’s been a no-fuss wormer since then.
Use the advance and retreat method and fill an old syringe or wormer tube with something like applesauce (or whatever the horse REALLY likes; in addition to applesauce we’ve used orange soda pop, Karo Syrup, mashed banana, whatever THAT horse really liked). After you dose 'em a few times with their favorite you’ll have a shot at the real stuff. If you’re successful give them a few shots over the next few days of the “training solution” just to keep them on their toes!!!
G.
A dose syringe and a large jar of generic applesauce has always worked for me to change the attitude of a horse with issues about paste dewormer (or meds).
By the time you get to the bottom of the jar, they’ll usually try to grab the syringe.
Trust me, spending the time now to teach your horse to accept being medicated using an oral syringe is worth it. We had a client who’s bill was a couple of hundred dollars higher because she had to leave the horse at the clinic for treatment because she couldn’t medicate it herself at home.
I would combine clicker training with using something like grape jelly,plus cookies for when you’re not ready to squirt in the mouth. Start out by “loading” the clicker. You can read how to do that online. Once she has a “loaded clicker” you can start training. The key is to break this into the tiniest pieces,first rewarding her for seeing the syringe,then approaching syringe,touching syringe,allowing handler to touch her with the syringe,eating something out of the syringe in the palm of your hand and finally,eating something directly from the syringe. Once this behavior is solid you can introduce the wormer and give her just a dot,then some of the yummy syringe. Keep increasing the amount of real medicine each time. Don’t forget to click for every tiny thing she offers right and remember to “up the criteria” at a pace that moves along but also allows her to succeed easily.
I use molasses water in an old syringe.
It has worked with the most cantakerous horses. As above advance and retreat. Rub it on their muzzle on both sides. A lot of horses will let you rub it on the off side if they have only ever been wormed on the near side.
Watch the face the first time you insert and spray their mouth with molasses water instead of wormer. it is priceless. After a while they will fight you to be first to the wormer.
Get SOMEONE ELSE to go in with a “flavored” syringe, play nice, be patient but intolerant of the mare being BOSS and not leave until that sucker has been in her mouth or at least touching her lips and she realized it was deeeeeeelishhhhoussshhh. YOU can possibly try feeding her a carrot as if it was a syringe…ie same approach to the back of the lips before letting her eat it, but honestly you seem to have pretty much psyched yourself out of getting a syringe into her mouth, nothing to be ashamed of I have said to people “look I am not in the best mind set to do ‘this’ may be best if you do”, so let someone else try it if at all possible.
I haven’t read all of this (lunchtime, you know) but Durvet has an ivermectin that is apple flavored and more gel-like than the other brands. My horse seems to take it better and doesn’t spit so much out.
I have an EZ wormer and it was a game changer for my tough-wormer.
My “bad case” is a small pony who absolutely refused to let ANYTHING near his mouth. My vet and I tried to wrestle dewormer into him in a stall when I first got him and had to finally admit defeat after almost two hours of trying.
I bought the EZ wormer thinking that it would be no better, because seriously, you still have to stick the tube of wormer close to the horse’s mouth to get it in the tube, and how could that possibly be any better? Well, for whatever reason, my guy is AOK with that and I can worm him hassle free every time with the EZ wormer.
I don’t know if it would work as well on a horse that objects to having a bit in their mouth, or a horse who is of the wickedly smart variety. But I have 12 years of worming this pony under my belt now and it’s still no big deal for him.
So I would at least give it a try.
Probably stupid question, but have you tried it on the ‘off’ side yet? If not, start there. Get a few empty dewormer syringes, clean and fill with applesauce, and every chance you get, swiftly insert and dose. Pretty soon horse will look for it, then move to other side. Do it daily at least. On the day of the real dewormer, come back after a few minutes and dose with applesauce, so the yucky tasting one is more of a fluke.
If you can get it in them with applesauce, you can win them eventually.
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