Lsrd1 wrote:
If your horse doesn't like his face touched (or his mouth) and that's what you're planning to work on, it's really better to touch it rather quickly. Scratch his neck or under his chin on his chest, and then somewhat quickly just run your hand up to his mouth and away. Not like at the speed of light, but no lingering. If he lets you put your hand anywhere near his poll or ears, give him a nice scritch there and then rather quickly run your hand right down the side of his face so that you also run your hand over his mouth and then away. Every time you do this and he doesn't freak out, give him some loving, a pat on the neck, even a treat if you like to treat your horse. It's a lot less stressful for a face / mouth shy horse to have your hand go more quickly on those areas then the slow petting stuff. If you do it several times a day and couple it with reward when he keeps his head still, he'll figure it out and you can start going more slowly bit by bit, and eventually you can work on putting your finger in the side of his mouth where you'd insert the tube of wormer. And then, once he accepts that, you can use that other excellent idea with the applesauce. You might have to start by stroking him with the syringe at first (kind of like described above).

Ditto to that. The slow and sneaky way is counter productive.

I can worm most of my horses without a halter. Two will accept wormer over the fence. The only trouble I have is with horses who were wormed by other people a lot. It takes them a year or so to stop dreading the worming. Then they are easy, too.