Stubborn Horse Refused Traditional Deworming

One of the things horse owners learn very quickly, particularly if they are "green" like us when we started in 1998, is that every horse has its own likes and dislikes. Every famous trainer will tell a story about a horse who, despite their best training, did exactly the opposite move they expected. This causes a lot of head-scratching among owners, too.

Premium Wormer Pack Some horses, for instance, can smell Ivermectin and other horse dewormers a mile away. They will not take it. We have a horse, Sarah, like that. The rest of the herd – two geldings – let the dewormer paste squirt into their mouths like nothing happened. The stubbornness found among some horses isn’t the fault of the manufacturers of horse dewormer.

These manufacturers have gone to great lengths to make it easier to dispense the dewormer – whether Panacur, Ivermectin or Quest – into the animal in a pre-measured cylinder using a plunger. Many of the pastes are apple-flavored or otherwise made more palatable. Some cylinders fit more easily into the mouth of the horse than others and squirt the dewormer into the mouth.

In most cases, training makes it easier to worm the horse using the traditional deworming method – a cylinder to the mouth. But we have spent hours and days with Sarah, our 14-hand Buckskin mare, placing an empty dewormer paste cylinder next to her mane, moving it up the mane to her head, then near her mouth. As soon as it gets near her mouth, she tightens her lips so tightly a crowbar couldn’t get them to budge. Even if it’s applesauce, she won’t take it from the cylinder.

Equi Aid CW Continuous Wormer

We have tried other methods, like using the stuff people add called "continuous dewormer" added to grain. Expensive lesson. Sarah’s reaction: "Not gonna." Likewise regular dewormer added to the grain. We used the old method of, "OK, if you don’t take it this time, it will be for your next feeding," like some human moms use. We tried sweetening it with every known horse treat we could think of. Carrot pieces were carefully extracted from the grain and eaten, but the dewormer-laced grain remained. After over a week, we wondered how much longer we could go on giving this grain with dewormer in it. We got to a handful, finally, and said, "Good enough."

Neal McChristy and Mac We presented the problem to our veterinarian and the clinic devised a solution. Ivermectin acts through the blood stream, we were told, and so Ivermectin is sold in vials. These vials can be used to give an IM injection in the neck or buttocks of the horse to deworm the horse . We tried it with Sarah. The Ivermectin shot made it nice to be able to place that checkmark in the horse-health book for another worming without a big fuss. Some day some inventor will come up with another way to deworm a horse that will be easier for us and this horse. Until then, this mare won’t – absolutely won’t – take horse dewormer in the mouth.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Neal McChristy is a freelance writer with over 25 years journalism experience in magazine, newspaper and Web-based work. He has been contributing editor for a magazine column in the wide-format industry for seven years. He also has over 16 years’ experience as reporter and editor in the printing and imaging area. He and his wife have three horses. They were "green," knowing little about horses when they began to acquire them in 1998. They learned about them through training lessons by Pat Parelli, John Lyons and others in the field of "gentle training" and "natural horsemanship".

Neal lives in Pittsburg, Kansas, and currently writes action-adventure novels, which he has done for over 10 years. You are welcome to contact him at freelance9@cox.net