Powdered Medication

The vet has prescribed some powdered medication for my horse but how do I give it to him?

The easiest way to give a powdered medication is to mix it into the horse’s feed. Some horses will not hesitate to eat it and often don’t notice, where as other horse will not like the flavour or smell of the powder. You can try disguising the powder by adding some molasses or apple juice to the feed. Feeds with pollard or chaff make mixing the powder in easier than just pellets or grain alone. Wetting the powder/feed down a little bit will stop the horse from blowing the powder away as they eat and also help it mix in easier. If you do add the powder to their feed be sure to feed them alone and check that they have actually eaten all the feed including the powder (some horses will eat around it).

If they won’t eat the powder you could mix it with water to make it a paste that you could administer through a syringe or even put on a treat that they will eat (like an apple slice). If you take the plunger part out of a syringe, hold your finger over the syringe tip, add powder then water, mix, replace the plunger and shake then squirt down the horse’s throat.

If your horse just will not cooperate and accept the powder speak to your vet and they may be able to change the medication to an injectable variation.