Worming basics?

[Mayandbump23]

Despite having had horses for nearly 20 years now, I have never been in charge of organising worming them . They have always either been on livery, so the yard manager has sorted it out or at friend's place, and have just been wormed at the same time as other horses (I have actually administered the wormers so know how to do that, at least). I am now (hopefully) going to sort out my own set up near home and for the first time, will be in charge of the 'worming programme'. And I have no idea what to do... .

So, to the knowledgeable out there, when do I worm and what with?

[SupersonicDave]

The best advice is to speak to your vet tbh.

We now get a worm count done so do not need to give the horses unnessary(sp? can never spell that!) drugs/chemicals and that and keeping on top of poo picking seems to work. We still worm them but not every 3m, more like once a year.

Otherwise wormer manufacturers tend to do plans that are easy to follow

[olderyetwider]

We're a bit 'green' with this too, so we're with Intelligent Worming, who do worm counts, devise the programme and send out products as required. I'm learning loads, but know that the horses are properly protected but not overdosed.

Second what Supersonic Dave said about poo picking, our yard owners poo pick the entire lot every day! They are fab!

[Callisto]

Poo picking is an essential part of paddock maintenance. Daily preferably.

[MitchiestInge]

am going to do worm counts but give them an equest every now and then just in case

check with your insurer (if insured) as they sometimes make you follow a specific programme or won't pay out for colic surgery (even if colic not caused by parasites)

[frostyfingers]

You don't have to speak to a vet, I use the equestrian people at Countrywide for all sorts of questions and they are very helpful.

I poo pick daily, and worm in April & September and not yet had any problems. You need to vary the wormer, but whoever you speak to will be able to advise you. I must admit we've never done a worm count, but as there are only my 3 on my grass, and there weren't horses on it before I haven't felt it necessary.

Obviously if their condition dropped then I would look in to it. Like all things horsey it's not as complicated as it seems....!

[Pixel]

Must admit I'm not as clued-up on it as I used to be. Now sis works at a vet's I tend to take the lazy way out and leave it all up to her (um... think we had a blue tube last time!), especially as she gets a discount .

We only worm a couple of times a year though, favouring the poo-pick every day approach.

[CailinBainne]

Mine get ivermectin in summer then ivermectin+praziquantel in December to kill off any bot larva (they get bot eggs every year and with the best will in the world I can't scrape them all off)

(lab facilities aren't as readily available here in Ireland to get counts done so I just worm them anyway...and poo-pick daily)

[LisaD1]

Agree that Poo picking is essential, although not always easy to get everyone to do

I have 2 fields, they go in one Sunday night until Wednesday night (out 24hours at mo) and I clear that Thursday morning, then they're ion the other from Thursday until Sunday and I clear that Sunday evening.

I worm April and September only and ask the staff at Countrywide which one I had last time (they have it attached to the loyalty card details) and I worm with something different.