Worming - your thoughts please

@newforest I genuinely don't know what your views will be! Worm routinely because worms are deadly? Or target worm because developing resistance to worms is deadly?

People who egg count do worm for tapeworm and encysted red worm too.

I agree with @Mary Poppins that having no policy is irresponsible. On our yard we all egg count and give the samples to the yo who sends them off. Last time only 2 horses showed any worm burden at all and they were both new. Neither were in my field.
 
I'm another who target worms and egg counts, Belle has been clear for three years now but I still worm for tape and encysted.
Also agree that having no policy is irresponsible, the last two yards I've been on we all have to worm count same day and any showing worm burden (none on this yard) will be wormed accordingly.
 
It was a wormer-resistant tapeworm that nearly killed Ziggy, so I really worry about tape. He had it although he had been wormed. I just hope it doesn't recur.
 
Jess was riddled with wormer resistant worms when I got her, I know she had been wormed by her breeder and came from their sheep farm, I then wormed her when I got home and it was only on the 2nd dose (with a different drug) when it looked like someone had spread a pan of spaghetti round her stable :eek: minimal but effective worming is important, so is managing grazing and varying the drug you use. My old boy Phoenix had worm damage from before I got him (he was a rescue) and it caused him real problems in later life.
 
One of my thoughts is to go on your vets programme.
If others do not bother it strangely didn't concern my vet because mine was being targeted. Your horse can graze the same land and be clear whereas another has an issue.

Some liveries have so many on horse sick land that it never gets rested. It needs resting.
Sheep yes.

Worm for tape it doesn't show up. Worm for encysted it doesn't show up.
That said I did worm for it but a burden meant I didn't clear it. Without a blood test no one knew.
 
This isn't meant to be a discussion about whether my yard is 'irresponsible' or not. I don't think it is. It's up to us as individuals to care for our horses, not YOs or anyone else.

I've talked to the ladies whose mares share my field and we're going to do targeted worm counting, worm as appropriate, and do tapeworm worming in autumn when it's most prevalent.
 
squidsin said:
This isn't meant to be a discussion about whether my yard is 'irresponsible' or not. I don't think it is. It's up to us as individuals to care for our horses, not YOs or anyone else.

I've talked to the ladies whose mares share my field and we're going to do targeted worm counting, worm as appropriate, and do tapeworm worming in autumn when it's most prevalent.
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Sorry if I offended squidsin, tht wasn't my intention, but it is your YO's responsibility to make sure all the horses on her yard are properly cared for in my opinion and if she isn't doing that then to my mind that is irresponsible, again that is just my opinion, I'm glad you have spoken to the other liveries who share Roxy's field and I'm glad that you have all decided on a route forward for all of your horses.
 
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I worm count, if clear I don't worm. The whole yard worm counts, we have had a few horses pop a medium redworm count and have to have panacure 5day guard.
 
I worm count. I use Westgate labs and I also used their saliva test for tapeworms for the first time this year and it came back clear for both of mine. Both mine have been clear all year but I will worm them in the winter.
 
We moved from field management and twice a year worming all to worm counts with Westgate. To put it in perspective we had a year of rapid herd changes involving a lot of ponies with unknown worm burdens. The results were startling!

Our older herd ponies had low counts as expected, a few newbies were highish but 3 months after worming with Panacur 5 day tested low on the next count.The worst however was one of the competition Tbs from a top trainer and kept stabled until we got him a few years ago.We suspect he had been so well wormed over his life in training he had developed resistance.One year on he also has also has a low count.

I would now always recommend people do worm counts, not yet convinced about saliva test for tape so do tape worming every autumn
 
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I tend to do poo tests regularly, but blitz them for encysted and tape worms unless their count is high. We have such low stocking densities that I rarely see a high egg count. IN fact since I have been counting worm eggs I have not seen anything that has made me reach for the wormer.
 
after seeing a young shetland foal die in front of me from a awful tapeworm burden and idiotic owner ( she kept her equines all 75+ of them on a farm I rented the house off) I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy ( bar one or two)
 
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Gimp, that's what happened to the cob mare the RSPCA placed with us. She hung on for a week and was pts in the end. She was being given electrolytes in her water and I remember she wasn't swallowing, what she drank was coming out of her nose she was so weak.

The worst part about it was that she came from a so-called rescue. They had five acres and on that land five big horses, six mini Shetlands, two goats, two pot bellied pigs, six sheep, three dogs, chickens and no money to pay for feed. They didn't believe in worming because it meant giving chemicals to them. They were never prosecuted because they sold up and moved to the Orkneys before it went to court.

But having seen first hand what happens when worming isn't done it makes me sad that there are people out there who don't for whatever reason.
 
At our yard we worm count twice while out on grass then when coming off grazing for winter we worm with equest paramox then worm count once whilst in then before going out we worm again with equest paramox as this is the best wormer for encysted worms. Please don't use verm-ex I work as a veterinary nurse whilst not seeing any cases in horses I have seen loads of people who use this on dogs who later come in with horrendous diarrhoea because of worms and one little doggy who sadly died from lung worm which could of been prevented with correct worming
 
Apple24 said:
At our yard we worm count twice while out on grass then when coming off grazing for winter we worm with equest paramox then worm count once whilst in then before going out we worm again with equest paramox as this is the best wormer for encysted worms. Please don't use verm-ex I work as a veterinary nurse whilst not seeing any cases in horses I have seen loads of people who use this on dogs who later come in with horrendous diarrhoea because of worms and one little doggy who sadly died from lung worm which could of been prevented with correct worming
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I'm not using Verm-X on its own. I'm not sure how effective it really is. She's just been wormed for tapeworm anyway.
 
That is why we combine ours with equest paradox which does encysted and tapeworm this is the best way we could ensure herd health at our yard
 
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