Administering Pills and Pastes

Many horses don't seem to notice when oral medications are mixed in with their normal grain rations. Owners usually crush pills, dissolve them in warm water to form a paste, then mix the paste in with the horses' grain. But not all horses are so compliant about taking their medicine.

If your horse is one of those that regularly leaves its medication behind in its feed bin, you need to devise another strategy for "dosing" your horse. Some owners find that mixing medicine with a particularly appetizing food (such as molasses or applesauce) almost guarantees that equine patient will take the medicine without putting up a fuss. But if your "Sherlock Horse" still sleuths out and noses aside its medicine, we recommend using a dose syringe to administer oral medications. You can use either a plastic dose syringe or a clean, empty dewormer syringe. Do not use a metal dose syringe. The metal can scrape the inside of your horse's mouth.

Take the following steps to ensure your horse gets its required dose:

*Rinse the mouth: Before dosing your horse, make certain its mouth is clear of food. If a horse has hay in its mouth, the medication wads up on the food, and the horse will spit it out.

*Prepare the medicine: If your horse's medicine is in pill form, you'll have to crush the pills before putting them into the dose syringe. An old food processor or coffee grinder works well to crush pills. Then draw warm water into the syringe to dissolve the pills, forming a paste. You may be tempted to add various delectable to the paste to encourange the horse to swallow its medicine, but horses often don't need encouragement. Keep in mind, too, that mixing in food treats only increases the total amount of paste you have to get into the horse's stomach.

*Administer the paste: Insert the paste filled dose syringe in your horse's mouth, as you did for the rinsing procedure. After compressing the plunger to release the medication, briefly massage your horse's tongue with the nozzle of the syringe or with your finger to encourage the horse to swallow the medication. You may also want to try massaging your horse's throat in the throatlatch area to encourange swallowing.

*Unsage Methods: Do not use a balling gun to administer pills. Balling guns can easily tear the back of your horse's throat. And don't administer pills by putting your hand deep into your horses mouth; your horse may bite you!