03/18/08 The art of equine oral medication

There is probably nothing more frustrating for a horse owner than a horse that won't accept oral medication it. I'm Jeff Keane, stay tuned until after the break and we will share some tips that might help if you find yourself in that situation. There are all kinds of tricks to getting a finicky horse to take oral medication, here's Susan Allen to share a few of her favorites. Giving a horse medicine whether it is in a powder or paste can be a real pain. I read some tips in this months Practical Horseman magazine that suggested we would be wise to familiarize our horses with this process by feeding them through a syringe filled with applesauce. Once they get the hang of that seems like you are home free especially with the advent of those 6 packs of single serving applesauce. They are convenient and disposable so if you need to give medication just pop one open and mix a single dosage and fill the syringe. FYI, most horses seem to prefer the cinnamon flavor. Some folks also swear by molasses or pure maple syrup for masking nasty tasting medicines. I also read about one woman's creative solution of mixing a paste using a packet of flavored gelatin with water which she administers like a wormer&..and if that fails there is always hollowing out an apple. Thanks Susan we all could use a few tricks up our sleeves when dealing with finicky Equines. I'm Jeff Keane