One of the most common questions that arises with horse owners is worming of their horse, and its an important one!
However, misinformation and glossy marketing from several big pharmaceutical companies have contributed to poor use of our deworming drugs to the point there is now widespread drug resistance, this will be devastating for our horses when we're unable to treat basic conditions like intestinal worms.
Lets try and clear up some mistruths and set a path forward for better use of these important drugs...
1. All horses live with worms
The goal of deworming a horse is not to eradicate all worms, its to control their numbers to subclinical level and minimise pasture contamination.
2. DO NOT deworm your horse every 6-8 weeks as suggested by lots of different sources.
3. Foals and adults get different worms, they need different deworming drugs.
4. Faecal Egg Counts (FEC) done on your horse prior to any treatment and then a faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) if the horse was treated based on the FEC results. The FEC will give an indication as to the burden of intestinal worms (namely strongyles) in your horse and the FECRT will provide some data as to the efficacy of the drug used, so that we know if its worked and how well.
See WormScope a local business that can perform your FEC tests or for further questions.
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5. Different factors also needed to be taken into account, weather, season, grazing management, FEC, age of the horse and target parasite species.
