worming

[untamed_beauty]

Hi , i have just got a new horse and i am a bit confused to all this worming stuff !! The old owner told me the horse has been wormed 8 weeks ago and someone told me that you have to use a different wormer each time . When should i worm and what should i use. Thank you :rolleyes:

[Gill]

Hi congratulations on the new horse.
Are you keeping him at a livery yard or at home? If on a yard then he should have to fit into their worming programme. If this is not required then look for a different yard if at all possible.

You don't say what he was last wormed with and different drugs have different gaps between doses, but a good policy for new horses is to worm for encysted redworm and tapeworm. That would be either Equest or Panacur Equine guard, with Equitape or double dose pyrantel wormer. In a good yard he would not be allowed out to graze with the others until a worm count showed he was not passing worm eggs.

Personally I always test a new horse even if I am going to worm him. We had a lovely horse arrive here last year, from a supposed good yard, but when I did a worm count it was 6500 eggs per gram! This was very high (normally it should be below 200 epg). A count like that will tell you whether the horse is likely to need extra worming in the future, as a high count is likely to return unless properly dealt with.

If you need any help with worming or want to know about worm counts, have a look at our website. It is not so very complicated!