Horse won't eat Prascend

[Ally S]

My Arab gelding just will not eat his Prascend and I'm at a loss. He's been on it about 3 months. At first he eat it in a carrot, then that stopped working so I tried Apple (worked for a while), Marmite, sandwiched between two extra strong mints and hidden in an apple (he was wise to me by now and that failed miserably)! The problem is he's now super sensitive to the taste, and intelligent enough to work out I'm trying to disguise the tabs - and so we went through several days where he refused to eat anything I gave him - even when there were no tablets anywhere. I can't see how to manage this going forward. Has anyone got any bright ideas? Thanks.

[jill]

Crush the tablet and mix it into a paste with somethnig palatable like pureed apples and use an old wormer syringe to syringe it direct into his mouth. I have never had a problem with the two halves of a tablet in a feed consisting mainly of Speedybeet.

[kafee]

I went through this with Taylor in the summer, and after trying out a number of ideas, found crushing the tablet and mixing it into grating carrot was acceptable to his lordship!

[specialized]

From the start, knowing what ours are like, I dissolved the tablet in water and poured into their normal feed - no problems at all.

[highlanderpony2002]

crush between two spoons and mix thoroughly into a sugarbeety feed sprinkle it well over the surface so no lumps in the food

[Ally S]

Thanks everyone. I did wonder about syringing it - but he's very clever, and I can see that will probably lead to a catching problem! I can't use sugar beet, but have thought about speedy beet. I like the idea of dissolving it and pouring it into the feed. That's my next plan then! I don't think trying to hide it in anything will work any more, but maybe a change to speedy beet and dissolving may work. Wish me luck!! And thanks again!

[Vanessa Witchy Weild]

My boy has his tablet in with his food he has nuts and Speedi-beet I mix his feed then just pop it in. I did have a Pony once who would just not have it even in a jam sandwich.
I know it make some go off their food altogethers I spose I am very lucky with Harry because he loves his grub!

[oberon]

I am lucky Obi will eat them straight out of my hand ;D.

I normally just screw a hole in pieces of carrot/apple and pop them in.

[floydsmum (aka LesleyfromKent)]

I give Floyd's to him in a little ball of Speedibeet - hand feed him that before popping his feed into him, that was I know he hasn't cleverly spat it out . Good luck with getting your boy to eat his!

[nich]

bizarrely, although prascend has put Autumn off any bucket feed, she will eat the tablets from the hand - with a herbal treat at the same time, then one after as a 'well done' and to take any residual taste away.

[Lorraine L]

Hi Ally,
Tom is the master of ' I will not, no matter what you try ' ! We did have to syringe it in the end, but have since found that if we drop it into boiling water ( cold didn't work with him ) and then added the pink water to the feed, he ate it.
We did check with the vet and rather than have him suffer this massive horrid 1/2mg daily, he could have 1mg every other day......so that's only half of the year that he hates us !?! Xx

[Ally S]

Hi Lorraine, it sounds like Tom and Mattie are kindred spirits! I'm about to try the speedy beet dissolved tablet trick - will bear in mind the boiling water option if needs be.

It really makes me think you know. Next time I buy a horse I shall ignore anything along the lines of 'good to shoe, box, catch, rides out with or without company etc etc'. Yeah, whatever, you can fix all those things if they're an issue anyway. Instead I want to read. 'will eat anything, especially pills'!!!

[Lorraine L]

Lol @ Ally. You're not wrong ! Good luck xx