How to give Your Horse Medicine in Paste Form

Pastes are a great way to give your horse several types of medications including wormers, painkillers, antibiotics, steroids and electrolytes. These are especially handy with horses that won’t eat food with medication mixed in, of it you are at a horse show and mixing in medication is difficult. There are also times when the horse is unable to eat and paste or injection is your only option.

• Step One: Be sure to correctly estimate the horse’s weight. If you aren’t sure then use a weight tape around the belly just behind the shoulders to get a pretty close estimate. Once you have the weight you can preset most store bought plungers (with medicines you didn’t make yourself) to the correct dose for your horse’s weight.
• Step Two: Hold your horse’s head up with one hand by the lead rope and hold the syringe, so that you can easily depress it with one hand, in your other hand. Insert the syringe at the corner of the mouth angled back so the syringe slides towards the back of the horse’s mouth. Stop when you reach the end of the medicine tube and the syringe tip is resting on the horses tongue.
• Step Three: Once you have the syringe properly placed depress the plunger fully. Once all the paste is out remove the syringe, turning it as you do to remove any paste on the tip.
• Step Four: Hold the horses head up until you are sure that all the paste has been swallowed or is coating the horses tongue enough that will be unable to spit it out. If you don’t wait long enough then most the paste gets spit out and the medicine isn’t able to really do its job.

• Make sure to give the paste long enough after the horse has finished eating that they won’t still have food in their mouth. First thing in the morning while they are still in their stall is a great time. At night a while after dinner is also a good time.
• If you are making your own paste mixing in some apple sauce or a little molasses can make it much easier to get your horse to accept.