b'ou step away from your horse after fight-Y ing to administer a dose of oral medication and realize youre coated in half of what he should have swallowed. Its frustrating to have to go through this same effort twice a day for a week. Your veterinarian emphasized the importance of getting all the medication down to help your horse fight an infection, but its proving easier said than done. Surely there has to be a better way to do this, you think. I have to be smarter than my horse!From antibiotics and anti-inflammatory tablets to anti-ulcer pastes and deworming medications, we ask our horses to consume a variety of products deemed important for their health. Fortunately, there are tricks to getting even the most refractory patient to take his medicine. After more than three decades of performing equine veterinary work, I have found, through trial and error, a number of successful strate-gies to help you with this process. Oral PasteAlways administer oral medications before feeding your horse, and check that his mouth has no food or debris in it before getting started. Rinse it out if necessary. Otherwise, medicine can get caught in hay, grain, carrots, or horse cookies, where its more likely to be spit out.Have everything ready to go before haltering your horse. Dont give him time to anticipate the dosing. Keep calm so your body posture doesnt reveal anxiety or nervousness, as horses are exquisitely sensi-tive to body language. When medicating with a syringe of paste, try not to give a dif-ficult horse much, if any, warning. For starters, dont let him see the syringe. Hide it behind your back or in your jacket and, once along-side his head, bring it up under his chin slowly. He cant see it there. Then, with your finger in the corner of his mouth, slide the tip of the syringe in. It helps substantially if you have practiced this maneuver previ-ously using first your finger, then carrots. Once he accepts those approaches, administer a syringe full of something tasty, such as applesauce. In fact, Ray Randall, DVM, of Bridger Veterinary Clinic, in Montana, suggests syringing your horse regularly without medicationjust something pleasant and tasty. Its all about desen-sitizing him to the process, so he wont be afraid. This takes time, practice, and patience. Give yourself every advantage by using a syringe that fits your hand well; this will make the process more efficient. Some people cannot work the plunger on a full 60-cc (2-ounce) syringe. In those cases you might need to use a 35-cc syringe and give the dose in two or more parts. To make administering a thick paste easier, cut the TheHorse.com | The HorseOctober 201911'