De-worming a head-shy horse???

Question

I have a 8 year old Arabian Mare. She was previously owed by an agressive male who spent no time with her. I have spent countless hours loving and working with her and got her over the head shyness. I was able to give her Bute paste and de-wormer just fine. Now the farrier whom I love brought a helper who put a stud cahin over her gums and this severed the gingiva. How painful....He will get my feedback real soon. this was about 1 month ago. Now when I try to get near her mouth she throws her head and just about pulls my arm out of socket or head butts me! I have to get the de-wormer in her. Any ideas??? Please help

Answer 1

OMG what a wreck...how about a change of farriers to begin with; if the mare wasn't misbehaving what was the point of the stud chain?  

You're back to square one.....begin again with working with her head shyness as it worked previously prior to the donneybrook with the farrier.  You'll eventually regain her trust...don't worry about the wormer right now...that trust will come.  You can top dress a wormer on her grain but if she's a fussy eater that may not work.  I'd totally stay away from anything that "forces" her to stand and take any kind of medicine...only reinforces your problem with her.  And contributes further to her headshyness.

Answer 2

She sounds like she has your number.  While being cruel is not acceptable, it is also not acceptable to let a 1000+ pound animal be 'in control'.  If a horse hurts or kills a person they can wind up as dog food pretty quick.  So it is important that they are safe and gentle.

Do you know what a 'twitch' is?  It is 2 pieces of usually aluminum hinged at one end.. Open the twitch and Standing to the SIDE - you pull the mare's top lip out and put it on and tighten it, twist the twine fastener around the bottom.  This type of twitch is called a 'humane' twitch.

This is not harmful to the horse and it works on a major nerve that keeps them from moving.  Obviously, you will want to clip her ears or give her the wormer immediately and then release her.  

For head shyness, while they are tied take a soft light weight blanket and start flapping it all over her body, legs etc and work up her neck and around her head.  This is called sacking out and is usually the first step when starting young horses.  Sometimes it takes several days at 20-30 min at a time to get them to accept and relax.  Don't slap them with it Hard. .  just a gentle swishing until they stand quietly while being sacked out.

Good luck.

Answer 3

You can read some of my other horse answers if you want to get more detailed with what it can do, but I think you could use something that John Lyons and Monty Roberts do. You can put her in a round-pen and approach her like you would to give any other horse it's wormer. Let her smell it and rub it on her face. Play with it around the corners of her mouth and then insert it in the edge. Once it's in be very quick. Stick it to the back as far as you can and squirt all of it. I do this with horses that don' t mind the wormer, because it's an unpleasent experience no matter what. I try to make it quick like taking off a band-aid. If she looks like she's going to move away then take the wormer away and pet her telling her she's a good girl and try again, building up the amount of pressure she's recieving from it and taking it away before she moves. This is something you can try if you don't have a round pen. If she holds still then give her the wormer. If she jerks her head then let her go, have a rope in you hand and throw it out behind her butt and send her off around the ring for a few rotations. You can turn her if you like. Give her a chance to stop and try to give her the wormer again. Repeat this process however many times is necessary. Eventually, she'll learn that your not going to hurt her. In the future you need to tell people that your horse is head shy and that your working with it and if they can't do their job without twitching it then they need to leave. I always stand their with my farrier and vet just so I can ask about my horses health and watch for things like that. If your their and see something like that your uncomfortable with then you need to tell them. I know what your talking about and my farrier has had to do it with one of ours that was acting bad although they just used the lead rope and it worked fine. They weren't trying to hurt him, just give him something to keep his mind occupied while they were working on his feet. He didn't need it the next time they came out.

Answer 4

you can buy pellets or powder that mixes in with her feed  

Answer 5

Your horse is UNDERSTANDABLY scared - the moron that put the stud chain on obviously did not know how to use it.

If your beloved farrier allowed that to happen then he is a jerk too.

Or...is your 8 yr old Arab in need of more training to allow the farrier to be a farrier and not a trainer - which he is obviously not qualified to be.

This mare needs ground work and manners asap.

You need to go back to the beginning as far as getting her to allow her head to be touched - you did it once - you can do it again.

As far as wormer goes...can you wait till she is ready or try it on her feed? YOU forcing her now is not what she needs.

And don't leave her alone with anyone to "work on her"...

Abused horses are delicate and everyone should see how EASY it is to send them right back to a zero level of trust.

Good Luck!

  

Answer 6

hey there!

well what i suggest is to use the wormer you put in the horses feed instead of the one you physically put in her mouth.

hope it helps :)

Answer 7

when you go to worm her, don't let her see the wormer.  Put a halter on her and quickly shoot the wormer in the side of her mouth as far as you can.  I emphasize QUICKLY.  Before she knows what happened it will be over with.  A little practice and you will become a pro.

Answer 8

As a temporary solution, give her a deworming supplement like Strongid in her feed. Just take your time and have patience and try to get her to trust you again. I know it's not your fault, but she doesn't make that connection, so YOU have to regain her trust. Just stand beside her and try to put your hand on top of her nose. Talk to her and pet her and try to get her to drop her head down. Once she does, feed her a treat (stand in the position you would be in if giving her a wormer.) Get her used to taking treats from this position then eventually try the wormer again. Time and patience are key here. Good luck :)

Answer 9

Kick the helper in the nuts next time you see him. You could put the de- wormer in her feed, that's what my mom does with our horses. It works.

Answer 10

i have the same problem, my horse is head shy also, what i give him is a pelleted wormer, you can get it at any horse feed store, it works pretty good. or you can put the wromer in apple sauce and feed it to her that way. it worked for my horse and he loved it.

good luck!

Answer 11

I agree with Amy, try a feed through wormer for a while.  To get her accepting of a wormer again, get a large syringe, (12cc at least) and fill it with apple sauce.  If you have a chute or some what to contain her that would be best, but even the corner of your stall might work.  Have a stool or bucket so you can reach her when she throws her head up and try to get some apple sauce in the corner of her lips.  Even just a little bit will surprise her and when she finds out it is a treat she will want more. Give it a couple of tries and see if she won't start letting you put a syringe in the corner of her mouth again.   I always give my horses apple sauce through a syringe a couple times a month. They look a little disappointed when it's only wormer! :) Good luck!

Answer 12

Use approach and retreat. Instead of talking about your specific problem, I am going to put out an analogy you can use.

Suppose your horse lets you touch his ear for 2 seconds, and then starts tossing his head around. You want to be able to grab the horses ear and hold it for as long as you like. Do you think the best thing to do would be to quickly grab the horse's ear and hold it or restrain the horse with some kind of gizmo? I doubt either approach would help you hold the horses ear next time around.

To use approach and retreat, you hold the horses ear for ONE SECOND and then let go before he starts tossing his head around. Do that like 5 times. Then put the horse away until tomorrow. The next day, do it once for 1 second, then hold his ear for 2 seconds. If he starts tossing his head around, back down to 1 second again, and then try for 2 seconds the next time. This is a process of desensitization. Pretty soon you will find yourself holding the horses ear for 10 seconds without him doing anything.

You can do that here and I would suggest delaying worming for a few days to trainer her right is worth it in the long run. No restraining or sneak attacks. Otherwise, its going to be even harder the next time.

Bring out the wormer without any intention of actually using it. Just show it to her and let her sniff it the first day, and that's it. The next day, start a process of touching it to her mouth without doing anything. If she goes nuts when you touch it to her mouth, just back off, let her calm down and try again. When you can put the thing in her mouth without her going wacko, then give her the wormer.

Of course my experience is horses are not big fans of this stuff (does it taste like chalk or something?), so you will have to inject quickly once you get the horse to accept it.

Now onto another issue. If your horse head butts you, she is showing some lack of respect. I hope you do not accept that. You need to immediately show your horse you are in charge when she head butts you. Take the lead rope and make her back up firmly whenever she does that, or if you have to smack her on the nose. A horse that head butts is not safe.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 13

Try making a mash for hot water, bran, molasses, and her feed. Then add the wormer to it, the molasses covers up the bad taste and they usually don't realize they are eating it.

If that was my farrier, I'd tell him to NEVER come back, there is no reason to use a stud chain on a horse unless it has major problems to begin with.

Be gentle and take your time, Arabs are a quirky breed with lots of love to give once they trust you. She does not trust men now, and you don't want her to not trust you.

Good luck  

Answer 14

NEVER EVER leave your horse to have something done to them without you being there. If you had a child, would you walk out of the room and leave them alone with the podiatrist or the dentist? The same should go for you horse. I am very sorry that your horse had to learn your lesson the hard way. This is not your fault as the farrier should have known better than to  let his "helper" (wrecker) do this to your baby. Hope she eventually gets over this trauma. Best of luck

Answer 15

Mouths heal pretty quick, so pain is likely not her reason anymore, but she may not believe that. This answer is probably not the best for you, as you know you have a problem and it is your horse and you have the time to try to work her through it - and some terrific ideas to do it.  This will work in a pinch, though. I have a friend who has a horse that has been in her family for 15 years and to this day she will not let you get near her with a needle or wormer.  She has not been abused, she just doesn't like it.  I used the old blindfold trick on her a few years ago...they have to do it every time, but she stands fine.  Use a pretty good sized towel and tuck both ends under the halter so it does not fall off in the middle, but this has worked on many of mine over the years, so consider it if all else fails.

Answer 16

I didn't read all the posts, so someone may have suggested this........ they make a paste "bit" that is awsome. It makes worming, butting, etc. so easy. Here is a link....... http://www.darkbay.co.nz/

Answer 17

you can get a powder that goes in the feed, I think it's called panacur.

I know your gonna blast the farier but I suggest you try to be there for the farier, especially the next time cause she is not going to be pleased with the farier after that and you want to make sure she stays calm and doesn't stress out.

As well as doing what you did previously to get her over the headshyness you could try using carotts to approach the side of her mouth and let her have that and also take treats and you go to her mouth and this should teach her that your hands going to her mouth means treats and nice things.