Worming - your thoughts please

squidsin

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2013
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Just wondered how many of you worm, and how many don't, and why?

Would also be interested in your suggestions: I have always wormed every 3 months, but my yard doesn't have a policy of worming, so it's up to the owners, and as all the horses are kept in shared fields, there doesn't seem a lot of point in worming if everyone else isn't doing it, and it's a big yard with lots of owners and a lot of people don't worm. I've decided to trial Verm-X, the natural alternative, which also comes with a worm burden kit so I can check how her guts are doing 21 days after worming. I figure it can't do any harm! I was thinking of just using a conventional tapeworm pharmaceutical treatment twice a year too, as worm burden kits don't test for that and you need a specific product to get rid of it anyway. Does that sound sensible?
 
I worm. Not worming over a long time can lead to damage to the gut, colic, all sorts of nasties. We do ours for encysted small redworm and bots in the winter, tapeworm around august, and large and small redworm and roundworm going back into winter.

I just don't get why people don't worm.
 
I think that it's really irresponsible for shared fields to not have a common worming program.

We have no choice in our worming programme, I get billed every 3 months or so and just go with whatever the yard manager decides to use. None of the horses on our yard have had a problem with worms so it must be doing some good.
 
Can you try and pull everyone together to have a chat about it? It's such an important issue and needs a holistic approach.
I couldn't really - I don't even see about 3/4 of the owners there! Let alone have contact numbers for them. Besides, I believe some choose not to worm because of the issues round worming re: horses becoming tolerant to the wormer.
 
I do worm egg counts in spring. Egg counts mid year. Worm for tapeworm and everything else autumn. I only have two, my fields are well picked and we invite sheep and cows on regularly. Vet says we are very low risk and that we're doing it right so that's what we've always done.
 
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I do worm egg counts in spring. Egg counts mid year. Worm for tapeworm and everything else autumn. I only have two, my fields are well picked and we invite sheep and cows on regularly. Vet says we are very low risk and that we're doing it right so that's what we've always done.
Do sheep make a difference? Roxy is on a sheep farm and sheep live in her field.
 
I worm probably 2-3 times a year unless we have been away on shared fields, my fields are cleared 1-2 times daily and I prefer not to over use chemicals. I haven't done a worm count in some time but as it doesn't capture all worms/stages its not a complete replacement, once I knew my horses were clear and my paddocks not burdened (only my horses on there so limited risk of that increasing) I stopped doing it regularly, though you have prompted me to think its probably worth doing one now to check that theory!
 
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Me and my fellow livery do worm counts and worm for that kind of worm only when necessary, except for her old mare who is very prone to pinworm so gets strong wormers throughout the year. We worm for tape twice a year.
 
I worm count and target worm too,used Westgate labs for 2 years and very happy with them. Neala had a worm burden when I bought her,with their help we have had clear counts for over a year now with target worming :)
 
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I am of the opinion of horse become immune to wormers but also I don't want to put chemicals into my horse if I don't need to. So I have for the last.. year and a half been using west gate labs and worm counting, worming when needs be.

Even in a shared field I still worm count regardless of whether the horses in his field have been wormed etc
 
Our yard has a worming policy so I have to go with that. As I know to my cost a tapeworm burden doesn't necessarily show up on a worm count. When I made an insurance claim for an illness that started with colic like symptoms, the first thing the insurance company asked for was details of Raf's worming history and I was very grateful that YO was able to provide me with dates and details of wormers used!
 
This is what a young cob looks like after spending 13 days at the vet with all four stages of encysted redworm. She was given a 20% chance of survival and I believe when this was taken it was up to 50/50.
What do you think my views are going to be. The other horse died.

PicsArt_1440458719678.jpg
 
I don't have piçtures but I did have a cob mare placed with me by the RSPCA suffering from a massive burden ôf encysted small redworm. I lost her. Vet told me that encysted redworm and tapeworm don't always show up in counts,
 
Tapeworm and encysted red worm don't show up,they are 2 Westgate always tell you to worm for. They do a saliva test now for tapeworm,but I am continuing to worm for tape,I have thought I may get a blood test done by my vet and and a saliva test at the same time as I'd be interested to know if it would give the same results,it's just too new at the moment I want to see how it does before relying on it due to nealas history.
 
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