# Worming an unwilling horse



## Hrt4Dressage (May 24, 2008)

Be sneaky... maybe groom her for a while with the wormer in your pocket, come up her side, pet her, snuggle, offer a small treat, and when she least expects it... shove it down her throat.

they also make wormers that can be added to feed in a pellet form, which makes it WAY easier.

Strongid makes a daily wormer, but you can also get wormers that are a 3 or 5 day dose and they come in pellet or powder form and get mixed in with the feed. probably your best bet.... 

Safeguard Equi-Bits is a one time pellet dose and it is apple flavored I believe, specifically designed for horses who are not too keen on paste wormers. I think it;s pretty cheap... $6 or $7 for a bag (one dose)?


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Is it that she doesn't like the syringe in her mouth? It sure must be an odd feeling for them all right.

There is pelleted wormer available as well that you put in their food regularly (daily or weekly I think). Or use the paste wormer, but mix it with molasses or sweet feed. Add some ACV if you like to mask the smell. Or, inject it into a plain donut or core an apple and put it in there. Or spread it between two pieces of rye bread. Be inventive -- find her best treat and sneak it in!

I agree with avoiding the "wormer-bridle" sounds like a bad idea to me.


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## sempre_cantando (May 9, 2008)

Give her nice things in a syringe i.e. apple sauce, molasses. Do this everyday until she actually looks forward to being syringed. Then one day you can worm her as she'll be expecting something nice. This way, she'll expect the syringe to have nice things and be happy to have it in her mouth.

Alternatively or if she's really bad, just touch her mouth or lips with the syringe and then reward her for letting you. I did this with my standardbred mare with great sucess! She now ****** up her ears and walks towards me when she sees me holding a syringe. Next time I need to worm her, I'm going to syringe worm her -wish me luck! The day after I've wormed her, I'm going to start giving her syringes of nice things again. 

PS make sure she actually likes apple sauce/molasses before you start syringing it into her! Otherwise, just give her water and reward her with a carrot for letting you syringe her.

EDIT: isn't it nice that as you run your mouse over the word 'apple' it gives you a definition? Just in case anyone using this forum didn't know what an apple was :lol:


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

Ah, you suffer from the same problem as me... my mare doesn't like the syringe. I've tried the bridle wormer too, released here in NZ by Mark Todd, but that was useless. 
I normally cheat by putting it in her feed... but lately I've made a point to get it in. The way I do it? Someone said it earlier... do it out of the blue. Or if you have another person with you, occupy her. Get the person to grab a bit of her neck (it sounds worse than it is) and cover an eye. She's so busy figuring out why the visions gone from one eye and there's a pressure on her neck, that she can't concentrate on playing up.

My wee mare is a horrible thing when it comes to worming... She gets nasty, shoving you up against a fence (if she can anyway), rears, tries to rip the lead out of your hand, etc. She's a reasonably mannered horse, and you can easily put your thumb in her mouth etc as long as you have no syringe in your hand. I ALWAYS have a helper though if I attempt the syringe route. And generally make my friend hold it behind their back, whilst I pat her and stick my thumb in to grab a hold of her mouth. If she gets one over us, I do the occupying trick. 

Good luck! But if you don't want the hassle, seriously look into putting it in her feed!
x


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

sempre_cantando said:


> EDIT: isn't it nice that as you run your mouse over the word 'apple' it gives you a definition? Just in case anyone using this forum didn't know what an apple was :lol:


LOL!

I agree with your training method. I also find that the apple flavored wormers are more palatable for my horses and they accept it more readily.

(grape, strawberry, banana, cherry - just trying to see if they need to be defined too. I guess not, it seems that _apple_ could be an unknowned to our members)


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

I rub the syringe all over the muzzle couple mins till they calm down about it, then put fingers in/out the mouth couple times, then put syringe in mouth and push paste in.


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## palogal (May 30, 2008)

I vote for a twitch. It's not as barbaric as it seems and it gets the job done. There are somethings I don't insist on, wormer is one of them. I twitch 'em and get it over with.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

sempre_cantando said:


> Give her nice things in a syringe i.e. apple sauce, molasses. Do this everyday until she actually looks forward to being syringed. Then one day you can worm her as she'll be expecting something nice. This way, she'll expect the syringe to have nice things and be happy to have it in her mouth.


What an excellent idea!


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## Stepher (Nov 5, 2007)

Another trick I have seen is to pull out the tongue, then they are too busy trying to get their tongue back and you just squirt it in there. Not the nicest method, but if you have 15+ horses to worm by yourself, its easier.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

One of an old friend's horses who was a complete witch, was near impossible to de-worm so she never did her own horse. The vet had to come out and use a twitch on her. Not something you want to do. Do you have the option of switching to the injectable dewormer? if you know how to do it, or if you can learn, it will be easier for repeats.

Good Luck.


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## americancowgurl31391 (Jul 9, 2007)

Wow sounds like my horse...he wont let me worm him if it were to save his life. At the feed stores they have liquid and pelleted wormers, which you only do every 2-3 months. I love them an d would never switch back. You ave to mix it in with something. I just mix it with oat mo.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

Gem doesn't like to get wormed. He throws his head up and won't even let you get anywhere near his head.

getting a handful of grain and some molasses does the trick  We put the wormer on top of the grain, cover with molasses and mix until it's all molasses-y. He loves that!


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## palogal (May 30, 2008)

You can avoid the situation all together and feed a daily wormer.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I walk up to them w/ my hand behind my back... I lovey dovey and then I shove it in the corner of the mouth and squeeze... quickly....


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

My baby comes back for more. He'll finish licking the outside of the tubes once I'm done :lol:


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## americancowgurl31391 (Jul 9, 2007)

Wow consider yourself lucky!! I will never switch back to the paste wormers.


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## Horse Poor (Aug 20, 2008)

sempre_cantando said:


> Give her nice things in a syringe i.e. apple sauce, molasses. Do this everyday until she actually looks forward to being syringed. Then one day you can worm her as she'll be expecting something nice. This way, she'll expect the syringe to have nice things and be happy to have it in her mouth.


This works well if the horse doesn't bite down on the syringe crushing it into pieces...which I have had happen.

For horses who object to paste worming, I simply mix the paste with a tablespoon or so of molasses and mix that into their feed. Never had a problem with worming or paste meds.


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

I find the paste wormers a pain to be honest... and the gel ones even worse! I went to a sale a few months back at the local saddlery and picked up a couple of wormers for a good deal, thinking 'oh well, one lot of gel worming won't be so bad'... and my difficult mare was BETTER about taking it in (ie once the battle was over, she took it all in) than my sweetheart of a gelding... he HATED the taste and spat some of it out before I had the chance to lift his head up high enough (he's 16.2hh, I'm 5'4 if that, getting his head up high enough when he's adverse to it is never easy lol).
Liquid worming will be my only way from now on!!
x


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## Snapple122 (Aug 8, 2008)

I don't know if this has been said because I didn't read all the posts before me, but what I do with Snapple is I cut an apple in half and stick the half on the end of the syringe then when she goes to take the apple, just squirt the dewormer in her mouth
it works for me!


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## jeddah31 (Jun 11, 2008)

my horse is a poo too, i stick her bum to something solid so she cant walk backwards and make her put her head down using pressure points


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## ChestnutEventer (Sep 1, 2007)

i use the pellet wormer, and my horses eat it out of my hands!! lol they love it for some reason.

i like this idea though..

sempre_cantando wrote: 
Give her nice things in a syringe i.e. apple sauce, molasses. Do this everyday until she actually looks forward to being syringed. Then one day you can worm her as she'll be expecting something nice. This way, she'll expect the syringe to have nice things and be happy to have it in her mouth.


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

We use the wormer you mix with feed. I find it's just plain easier than fighting with a syringe.


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## sempre_cantando (May 9, 2008)

Horse Poor said:


> sempre_cantando said:
> 
> 
> > Give her nice things in a syringe i.e. apple sauce, molasses. Do this everyday until she actually looks forward to being syringed. Then one day you can worm her as she'll be expecting something nice. This way, she'll expect the syringe to have nice things and be happy to have it in her mouth.
> ...


This would only happen if you put the syringe between their molars - not an ideal placement for a syringe! It goes in the side of their mouth where there are no teeth, and then diagonally sidewards and upward onto the tongue. In this position the syringe should not come in contact with any teeth.


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## Sliding4ever (Jun 1, 2008)

iridehorses said:


> sempre_cantando said:
> 
> 
> > EDIT: isn't it nice that as you run your mouse over the word 'apple' it gives you a definition? Just in case anyone using this forum didn't know what an apple was :lol:
> ...


I'm not so sure its as palatable as we would think. I wormed a horse with an apple flavored one before and she stuck her tounge out and was walking around and licking her tounge on the grass trying to get it off :lol: :lol: .


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## Horse Poor (Aug 20, 2008)

sempre_cantando said:


> Horse Poor said:
> 
> 
> > sempre_cantando said:
> ...


I know where it goes...but in anticipation, this horse went after it, crushing it. It's nice to have everything go exactly as planned, but that doesn't always happen in the real world. Even to experienced people. Horses don't normally enjoy being pasted, so they are not eager...but some who learn that something "tasty" always comes with the introduction of the syringe CAN become eager and bite. Just passing along my experience and why I no longer use that method.


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