Administering a worming paste to your horse can be tricky but necessary for their health. As a general rule of thumb, most horses should be wormed at the change of every season with extra wormer in the middle of summer.

Here are some steps you can follow when administering worming paste to your horse:

• Don’t allow your horse to graze or eat for at least 10 minutes beforehand to ensure there is no food left in his mouth.
• Turn the ring on the worming paste plunger to the correct dose level for the weight of your horse or pony and remove the cap.
• Stand to one side of your horse/pony. If you are right-handed it is easier to stand on the “off” side or right side of your horse and the “near” or left side if you are left-handed.
• Your horse should not have a bit or bridle on but should instead have a halter. Hold the rope short and grab the halter with your left hand for right-handers and the right hand for left-handers.
• Insert the nozzle of the worming paste tube into your horse’s dental space behind the incisor teeth and angle the paste tube towards the back of its mouth on top of the tongue. Push the tube into the horse’s mouth all the way to the wings of the tube where the plunger inserts such that your fingers nearly touch your horse’s lips. Squeeze the plunger all the way in, delivering the present dose of paste over the horse’s tongue.
• Withdraw the tube and hold your horse’s chin up while he swallows. You can stroke the underside of the neck. This will encourage swallowing.
• Your horse may flare his nostrils and top lip upward after pasting. Don’t be alarmed. This is normal and means he doesn’t really like the taste of the paste.

Instead of holding the halter while pasting your horse, you can grab his tongue with your left hand if you are right-handed or right hand if you are left-handed. Gently pull out the tongue through the dental space and then place the paste tube over the tongue angled towards the back of the mouth. This technique is particularly useful for those horses that like to chew down on the worming paste syringe when you place it in his mouth.

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