How to Host a Worm Paste Party

One of the handiest "tricks" to teach your horse is to come when called and drop his (or her) nose in the halter. If you have a herd like we do, it really only takes one convert and they'll help you teach the rest. We taught Bella first (as she is the smartest) and then used Bella to teach Rina, Rina and Bella to teach Taya, and Rina, Bella and Taya to teach Lady (see who's who in the photos below). We don't even have to bother calling anybody anymore, most of the time just walking outside and holding up a halter brings everybody down the hill :o)

If your horse is one that practices the elusive meandering method, this will be more easily accomplished in a small area or stall. Because food is #2 on his list of priorities (safety being #1) he will be easily and strongly motivated by the use of a few treats. Hold the halter open in front of you where your horse can see it; don't expect him to drop his head immediately (he'll probably just look at you like, "Yeah, it's a halter - so???") Slip it on him, praise-Praise-PRAISE and give him a treat. It won't take too many times before his busy little brain connects halter with food (then he'll totally want to help :o) Horses associate whatever occurs immediately following an action with that event, so once you establish the halter/treat concept it will override anything that comes after the treat (like shots). I do suggest leaving a little bit of lag time between haltering and "the big stuff" - a.k.a. shots - to be sure there's no connection made (better safe than sorry dont'cha know :o)

One of the reasons this is such a great concept to teach is because generally horses associate halters with negative things. Consider what we usually do with the horse when we put a halter on them: riding/work, vet, farrier, deworming, shots, clipping, etc. When you look at it from the horse's point of view, "Golly, do I want to put this thing on and get a shot or do I want to hang out and eat grass..." you can see where he might not be overly enthusiastic (and can you blame him?)

WHO'S WHO: I wasn't fast enough on the shutter to capture the halter before the head drop (ours have gotten SO cooperative about it, their noses have dropped into the halter about a nanosecond after it's open :o) From left to right: Shadow, Lady and Taya. Lady was the worst one ; we used to have to walk for what seemed like forEVER before we'd manage to corner her and she'd give up. Since Taya learned this at the age of 5 months and Lady learned it at 15 years, I think it's safe to say the halter drill works with pretty much anyone.

1. Worm Paste (well, duh :o) We stick ours in a 9oz plastic cup (um, just a regular one - the party cup with balloons was just for fun in the photo).

2. A 3oz plastic bathroom cup and a small binder clip to hold it (the little paper ones will NOT survive this).

3. Some all natural molasses from the grocery store (or your baking stash).

4. A can of handi-wipes (because even when they eat it voluntarily it's pretty messy (ours came from the Dollar Store :o)

5. A small tote; plastic works best as you can wipe it off if it gets dirty...and you know it will (ours came from the Dollar Store).

** RIBBONS AND COWBOY CONFETTI ARE OPTIONAL **

The cups (one for The Girls and one for the Moo Crew) holding the tubes of paste and the can of handi-wipes fit perfectly in an old tupperware container (I lost the lid way back when, so I re-purposed it :o)

Attach the plastic bathroom cup to the end of your tote using the binder clip (this is for the molasses).

I always set all the wormers for the correct weight before I go outside and write each horse's name on the end with a Sharpie.

DO NOT automatically administer the whole tube of dewormer - those weights are on the tubes for a reason. You CAN potentially hurt your horse by overdosing! Purchase a horse tape if you are unsure of your horse's weight - they're very inexpensive and extremely handy.

TIPS: The key is to slide the tube as far back as you can along the side of the mouth so it goes down fast). Holding a treat directly in front of a nostril immediately afterward can encourage them to chew and swallow - don't feed it to them, however, as the paste will cause it to taste funny (and they'll just spit it out).

1st Photo: Lady is pretty good about taking hers (she doesn't like it, but accepts it).
2nd Photo: Rina and I have come to an agreement; she'll take the paste easily if I hand twitch her nose (she will literally "give me" her nose by pushing it in my hand the minute she sees the tube - a bit strange, but it works for us :o)
3rd Photo: Taya is the best one of the girls for taking her medicine.
4th Photo: Bella's head has to be held up for several minutes after receiving her dose; she keeps it stored somewhere in there and can spit it back out a long time after she should have swallowed.

Considering the short length of time it takes to dose them, we had a hard time capturing the exact moment on film (you get the idea though, right? :o)

1st Photo: Champ will not only eat the paste, he'll take the whole tube with him if you're not careful!
2nd Photo: Max was happy to be "served" next.
3rd Photo: Cinnamon slurped his up so fast we missed the photo shot (we almost had it though!)
4th Photo: Shadow making his icky medicine face (he usually pouts for about an hour afterward, before he decides to forgive us :o)
5th Photo: Retta gets the most improved award!