[zorse]

I have one complaint about Sunny...she is an absolute NIGHTMARE to deworm.

I've dealt with lots of difficult horses with deworming and shots..but Sunny is by far the most difficult. She seems to have a radar for when a deworming tube is near, and no matter to what lengths I go to hide it, she knows what's up.

Today I spent half an hour fighting with her. I've tried everything I can think of; backing her into a corner, doing it in a stall, two people holding her, etc etc. The problem isn't that she lifts her head high, or she clamps her lips shut, but she wings her head around and looses all her manners. I can't even get near her muzzle..as soon as I touch it she goes off on a "winging" tangent, and it's impossible to hold her head still long enough to shoot it in.
My babies are perfect, they stand well and it's over in 2 seconds flat...why can't she be like that?

I've run out of good ideas to try on her, and I'm already dreading 2 months from now when we have to go through this again...
Suggestions please!!
-zorse

[Carla_Lizzy]

we put it in their feeds. if the saddelry doesnt have granuals in stock then we also put the paste in their feeds, (we just add a little more paste incase of wasteges and add a small handfull of nuts that they dont have very often)

[zorse]

And they actually eat it? My horses are so picky when it comes to feed...I've never had success adding Bute or other things to their feed, they know it's in there.

[Carla_Lizzy]

yea they all eat it. no problems even with the shetland!

[Carla_Lizzy]

if they decide to get fussy then we add some waterd down treacle to the feed but not alot, and you'd be suprised on how fast they eat it then!

[zorse]

I'm scared to try this with Sunny. What if she doesn't end up eating it and I just wasted a $20 tube of dewormer?

[Klotira]

I had a lady I boarded with that would buy horse cookies and squirt the paste onto one, then put another cookie on top....kind of like an oreo cookie, only with dewormer in the middle instead of cream filling! It was the only way she could get him to eat it.

[Debralynb]

I'll put it in there feed and that helps. My horses will eat around it until it's left then finally eat that too.

I saw in the store the other day a worming " thingamajig" - I don't know what to call it but it kinda looks like a bit with headstall with a place to screw in the wormer so it's gets the past in the right place in their mouth. It's hard to describe - you are probably going "what". Never tried it and didn't get it that day but it really looked intriguing. Don't know if that would work or not. I think I was at tractor supply when I saw it and it was with the wormers and meds.

Deb

[zorse]

Klotira: That sounds interesting, I might try that next time. Then at least I'm not wasting the whole tube..

Deb: A worming thingamajig? Hmm..I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. How exactly did it work do you think? Sounds confusing..

[Debralynb]

Here's a thought - never tried it but what if you got a big syringe and started putting a sweet liquied in it like watered down maple syrup so she got used to the good taste. She maybe more receptive to the wormer when it's reading for it.

when we had to give Mystic her oral antibiotic we crushed it up with water and syrup and she took it no problem.

Deb