How the heck do you worm a foal!!

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debbiejowett

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Help! Tried to worm our foal yesterday for the first time. He's very good and is happy to be groomed and have each of his feet lifted so I didn't think there would be a problem. But put the tea towel round his neck to hold him still while I wormed and he went mad, that was it then he wasn't coming anywhere near me, tried for an hour and in the end gave up. Got to try again tonight, anyone got any useful tips??
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Does he not wear a headcollar yet? Squash him into the corner leaning against mare, gently scratch and stroke his throat working down to his mouth, when he starts mouthing you, be very gentle but have syringe ready and in it goes. If he's in the corner, he can't go further backward. Mine are all used to a headcollar which is easier to hold but I do it the same way and never had any problems but foals never like to have hands over their faces for quite a while so your aim has to be good!
 
No, no headcollar yet, have heard many different views on when is or isn't the right time for headcollars. I have no experience (would never have bought mare if I had know she was in foal but there you go I am where I am) so have followed the advice of my book which advises to do everything gradually. We have a headcollar and he is happy to sniff it and nibble it but not wear it!! I must admit I used to struggle getting him to follow mum from the stable in the early days so used to have to hold tea towel round his neck and hold his tail and march him out, may have to try that and get someone to shoot wormer in his mouth.
 
I had the worst experience worming my foal the other day, I wasn't even going to post this as it makes me look like such a muppet but OMG did I give myself a scare.

I was advised to give foal a dose of 150mg, the syring was a 700mg syringe. In hindsight I would have just given her 200mg. The plunger locks easily into place on 100, 200, 300, etc but as I found out it didn't lock on 150 and she got the whole 700mg dosage. I knew immediately what I'd done & put my hands straight into her mouth and scraped out what I could, luckily there was still a fair amount on her tongue.

Flew into the house & rang the vet & he said it happens quite a lot and there isn't really anything you can do now, it's in her. He was called out to two foals in the past where the foals had fitted about an hour after dosing, but after 10 minutes or so, foals were up & about like nothing had happened. I sat in the field for 3 hours with foal waiting for her to fit or worse but luckily nothing happened so I can only assume I got a lot of it back out. Vet also recommended dosing the mare first & giving foal whats left in syringe to avoid incidents like this!!

So although it's not really answering your question about getting the foal to take the wormer, just be very careful with the plunger on the syringe. That was a long night for me & I really thought I'd killed my foal, even now I can't believe what an idiot I was.
 
Depending on the foals age, the tb foals I used to work with were given the strongid P caramel and they loved it, even the awkward ones just liked in off the end!! As far as my foal is concerned, he had probiotics syringed into his mouth everyday for about 14 days post birth so was well used to it!! Made worming so easy! Although he's currently going through a rather cocky stage so we'll see how he is in a couple of weeks when he's next due!!!
 
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No, no headcollar yet, have heard many different views on when is or isn't the right time for headcollars.

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If he's old enough to need worming, he's old enough to have a foal slip on.

I wormed my 4 foalies yesterday and while I had the foal slips on, I tend to do it with right arm over neck (before foal slips, they learn that arm around neck means they are HELD) and then worm with left hand. The biggest problem is reaching the plunger one-handed, but as most of my horses need more than one syringe, I have lots of left overs for foalies which makes it easier.
 
Sorry but my experience with foals this year went a bit like this.......walk up to foal in field.....say hello......no halter..... no nothing just put sringe in gob as per normal squirt it and ........all done.......good scratch session for being good boys! lol! Guess i got good boys! Would normally have done in stable but been so run off feet thought better do it whilst it was in my mind and they happended to be out!
 
When my girly was an ickle person, I regularly used to make a fuss of her while she was lying down.

When it came to worming her the first time I just waited til I caught her lying down, and then did it while she was lying down. No running around, no fuss!!!
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But then she is so laid back I do wonder how she manages to stand up sometimes!
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I think he is ready for headcollar thats why I am introducing it gradually. I do like the slipping the arm around the neck though and am going to do this tonight with my other arm around his bum and my daughters going to shoot in the wormer. Am a bit fed up I didn't get the caramel strongid-p like the other poster did I nearly bought it but plumped for the original instead
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And you have all made me feel a whole lot better with some of your horror stories its so nice to know your not alone when things dont always go to plan.
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we have never had a problem yet with worming yet, even with the less handled foals, catch them up in field, get headcollar on let them settle bk down and then put syringe in mouth all done, the mares are more hassle lol
 
I am a real beginner in the breeding stakes we have our second foalie now four months. I wormed her today. I start with h/collars by putting on in the box and letting them run loose to field then taking it off. Same when coming in.

Our little girlie has a tiny amount of feed every day and so we just put some feed in a scoop for her and mum that got her interest. Held her headcollar popped in the syringe and then gave her a mouthful of feed.

I do like to worm all mine in the stable.
 
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