New member... and worming advice!

Re: New member... and worming advice!

Beholden — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:48:11 GMT

Thanks!

Hmm, I'm in Ireland so i don't know if I can send dung to the UK I think moxidectin or fenbendzole are the right things to be giving her, I'm just worried about the effects, and its not a great time for her to have gut upset with frost on the ground etc

We did worm counts in labs last term and I took samples from the two horses that were in livery and found them to be clean... and the adult horses seem fine, I'm just worried about her now... I certainly don't want to damage her gut at this young age in case it gives her problems later...

I thought maybe someone would have experience of worming horses that had large burdens/had never been wormed... I guess theres no easy way around it!

Thanks for all the help, I think I might wait til after christmas when it'll be easier get a vet incase I've a problem... and hope for the best

Re: New member... and worming advice!

Doolally — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:49:53 GMT

Hello and welcome

Get in touch with www.westgatelabs.co.uk. There's a lady who works there called Gill who goes on a horsey forum i'm on and she's ever so helpful. She'll be able to advise you about when to do worm counts and what to worm with. She knows all there is to know about worms!

Re: New member... and worming advice!

Vicky RVN — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:58:03 GMT

Sorry, i have no horse advice cos i know zilch about horses...but welcome to vetnurse

Re: New member... and worming advice!

Beholden — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:56:55 GMT

Thanks for the welcome

Re: New member... and worming advice!

Beholden — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:56:25 GMT

All 4 live out unfortunately, at the time they were wormed there were 3 on 11acres, wormed them in field (not ideal I know) and moved them 2/3 days later into brand new field, which hadn't been grazed by horses previously.

New field is about 7acres and theres was only 2 on it til last week (the others were away on livery and 1 has just been turned back out with them)

Its really too big to poopick, its 40 acre estate, and I can put them wherever I want as long as I keep them together and don't let the paddocks get overgrazed or sick, so I usually move them around after they are wormed and rest whatever field they have been in for half the year or more... I only rent the land and the landowner just likes it to look pretty, he might have a fit if anyone actually tried to manage the land properly, even bringing atractor into the field to put out hay is a trauma (but they often don't need supplementary forage) - he doesn't let me separate them either, as he says they'll break out to each other ... its just something I have to work around though.

Do you think I'll have a problem with the foal if I dose her with Panacur now, its about the only other thing I can readily get? I've heard a few incidents of horses colicing if they had large burdens of worms... I'm looking at them everyday so its hard to see the changes, and shes a really odd shape anyway... but I just looked back at some pictures of her in the autumn and realised shes very very wormy looking!

I do have a smaller walled paddock I could put them in for a few days when I worm them and then put them out in a fresh field, but I've no way of stabling them.

Would you break up the poos / or no?

Re: New member... and worming advice!

Steph Phillips — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:51:57 GMT

Welcome to the forum Lots of lovely people on here!!

Sorry I dont know much at all about horses.. so just wanted to welcome you :)

Re: New member... and worming advice!

littlehays — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:56:59 GMT

when you wormed them did you return them to a dung-filled field? horses are never completely free from worms but good worming control follows good pasture management, which basically means droppings should be removed as often as possible from fields. if your fields are too big, then ideally they should be harrowed in summer on a hot day and then rested - the sun should kill the spread-out worm larvae. remember different drugs have different interval periods for treatment (the old saying worm every 4-6 weeks is crap). so with equimax, i think it's 10 weeks, but you're doing the right thing by worming with that at the beginning and end of the grazing season. however your worming programme isn't effective against encysted small redworm; for that you need to worm with moxidectin, which is found in equest. fenbendazole (panacur guard) is licenced to treat encysted small redworm also, but has been shown in studies to cause resistance in the worms, so i wouldn't use it. unfortunately younger horses are more susceptible to worm infestations, so ideally horses should be grazed in age groups - but again this isn't always possible. if i were you i'd worm everything now with equest, poo-pick the field (if possible) before returning them to it, and then if worried send a faecal sample off for a worm-egg count for peace of mind.