War of the Worms

A good worming programme is essential to your horse’s health and now is the time to start planning your strategy for the year. Using worm egg count tests instead of blanket worming helps target the worming products to those horses who actually need it, which means it can work out cheaper for you in the long run, helps reduce the worry of exposing your horse’s system to worming products and helps slow down the rate of worms becoming resistant to worming products. This short animated film made by our colleagues at the Moredun explains this process:

http://www.moredun.org.uk/research/research-%40-moredun/parasitic-worms/war-worms

If your WEC indicates that your horse needs worming then speak to your vet about which class of wormer to use.

Good pasture management also helps reduce exposure to worms. Regular poo picking (at least weekly) helps reduce the worms on the pasture and helps stop latrine areas developing. Poo pick manually rather than mechanically to minimise soil exposure, which raises the risk of grass sickness. For the same reason avoid over grazing the pasture so that the grass grows evenly and strongly with good coverage.