Do you dread deworming your horse because it always seems to turn into a wrestling match? Use an empty syringe and a sweet reward of applesauce to train your horse to accept paste deworming calmly and happily.
What you’ll need:
- Clean, empty 24 oz. squeeze ketchup bottle with cap
- 25 oz. jar of applesauce, sweetened or unsweetened
- Kitchen funnel
- Catheter-tip 60 ml syringe or clean, empty paste dewormer syringe
Directions:
- Use the funnel to fill the ketchup bottle with the applesauce.
- Put the squeeze dispenser cap on the ketchup bottle.
- Remove the plunger from the syringe and set it aside.
- Put the cap on the syringe tip.
- Use the squeeze bottle to fill syringe about 3/4 full of applesauce.
- Replace the plunger in the end of the syringe.
- Turn the syringe over, holding the body of the syringe with the tip pointing up.
- Gently tap the end of the plunger, so the applesauce falls down to the butt end of the barrel.
- Carefully remove the syringe cap, allowing pressure to escape from the tip.   Don’t spray applesauce on the ceiling!
- Slowly push the plunger to squeeze the air out of the syringe and replace the cap.
Now you’ve got a syringe neatly filled with tasty applesauce!
Practice ‘deworming’ your horse with an applesauce-filled syringe every time you see him, until he learns to expect a tasty treat when you approach him with the syringe. When you do need to dose him with a paste dewormer, follow it up for the next few days with an applesauce treatment, until he accepts having the syringe tip put into his mouth without resisting.
Tips:
- Store the squeeze bottle of applesauce in the refrigerator.
- Most horses like both sweetened and unsweetened applesauce.
- To reduce sugar content, use unsweetened applesauce, diluted with water.
- Put the syringe tip-end down in a coffee cup to hold it upright while you fill it.
- Search for 60-ml catheter-tip syringes for sale on ebay. (www.ebay.com)
- Use vegetable oil or silicone spray to lubricate the black rubber seal on the syringe plunger.
- Wire nuts, found in the electrical department at hardware stores, can be used as replacement syringe caps.
- An applesauce-filled syringe can also be used to administer dissolved Bute or antibiotic tablets.
Tags: deworming, good manners