Have you done your horse's worm count this month?

Have you done your horse's worm count this month?

‘Should I use a wormer?’
Worming advice has changed. Good worm control practice starts with using faecal worm counts and tests, only administering a wormer if necessary.

Resistance to wormers
Horse worms are evolving to become resistant to some worming drugs, especially those that have been around for a long time. This means we can no longer rely on keeping horses worm-free purely by giving them wormers.

It’s much better to test first and target the wormers at the infected horses and specific seasonal problems like encysted redworms, bots and pinworm. Using wormers sparingly should also mean that they stay effective for those times when our horses really need them.

Using faecal worm counts and tests
Whether you have a single horse kept on an individual turnout or run a livery yard with mixed turnout a targeted regime can work for you. Redworm, Roundworm & Tapeworm are the biggest pathological threats to horses and the parasites for which you should test regularly.