Just had worm count done on Fly - horrified!

M

moneypit1

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 January 2007
Messages
2,246
Location
North Devon
Visit site
For the last year I have had my horses (4 of them at the yard) worm counted and wormed accordingly. Prior to this i just used to blanket worm every 13 weeks. Now you would think that considering they graze together as a tight knit heard, their worm counts would be the same. WRONG..... Three of them are clear - EVERY TIME. Fly on the other hand is not. The last count was 300, this one was 500! Shock. He is not the easiest to worm TBH. I think last time (13 weeks ago), a 'bit' of the wormer hit the floor. Obviously the results show that it was rather more than a 'bit'. So, the point of this post is that worm counts show us so much more. I need to make sure Fly gets ALL the wormer or else he will be sedated and tubed. The other three will be treated for tapeworm as I think getting 3 x blood samples will be very expensive. So, out of interest, what do you do? Do you blanket worm or treat as required? Just interested really as I am a fairly new convert to worm counting. x
 
At our yard we have had worm counts and bloods done and wormed accordingly for about the last 7 or 8 years.

The thing that seems to make the most difference to the worm counts is the poo picking in the paddocks - those who poo pick religiously have zero worm counts and those who pick more randomly or never and have it harrowed always have worm counts from anywhere from 300 - 500. (although that is still better than a some!)
 
Worm count now.

And we persuaded the whole yard (40+ horses) to do the same. So now we only worm when necessary.

But we've found the same - worm counts vary between individuals in a herd. (We have varying numbers of horses together in fairly stable groups - they only change if liveries leave or new ones arrive)

It's often the oldies that have elevated counts but not always. Sometimes it's only one sometimes it's more. Always interesting to see though.
 
We poo pick everyday. Its just so strange that three horses are clear and Fly is not. My vet said that it comes down to the individual horse. Some are more prone to worms than others. Perhaps I should consider bloods too then?
 
500 isnt that bad I wouldn't think (though my experience is sheep!), they will always be one horse having more, worms are overdispersed in their distribution so most of the populaion is in very few of the hosts. This is dependent on many host factors

I think it is unlikely that the bit of wormer on the floor has made any diffrence, it is normal for burden to increase agasin between wormings the idea is just to not let them increase to the point of problems.
 
We worm count too and have done for a few years. Our horses are grazed in small herds, the biggest being 4 in one field and every time we always get one which carries the worms, the others always being nil counts. This horse is then wormed accordingly. We do however always worm them all for tapeworm as its cheaper than blood testing.
 
You may find that one of your horses is immune to the active ingredient within the wormer - when you worm him again make sure the wormer has a different active ingredient to the previous wormer - I had a pony that this happened with - I rang the lab that did the count and that is what they advised - I followed their advise and it worked!! zero count next time
smile.gif
 
horses cannot be immune to active ingredients, worms can be resistant, there is no knowm resistance to moxidectin (equest)

this is not the problem

you can test for wormer resistance by treating then counting soon after though I have been told if you find resistance to iver/moxidectin get rid!
 
[ QUOTE ]
horses cannot be immune to active ingredients, worms can be resistant, there is no knowm resistance to moxidectin (equest)

this is not the problem

you can test for wormer resistance by treating then counting soon after though I have been told if you find resistance to iver/moxidectin get rid!

[/ QUOTE ]

Oops - I guess I didn't word my previous answer properly
blush.gif
- but that is what I meant. I didn't know that there is no known resistance to moxidectin - you learn something new everyday
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
He is not the easiest to worm TBH. I think last time (13 weeks ago), a 'bit' of the wormer hit the floor.

[/ QUOTE ]

You could be describing one of mine, who is awful to worm, and used to have very high counts, even when his field mates were low counts.
I got an easy-wormer bit and it's been brilliant. I don't think it's possible for him to spit any out with that in because it delivers the worm dose in exactly the right place, he HAS to swallow it.

eta, this year both counts have come back as less than 50.
 
We worm count at the yard. The paddocks are poo picked daily and every horse in the yard came back with a count 50 and below. All we will then do is dose for tapeworm in december. We havn't had to worm our girl at all this year and its brilliant as there is much lower chance of worms becoming resistant to treatments.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
horses cannot be immune to active ingredients, worms can be resistant, there is no knowm resistance to moxidectin (equest)

this is not the problem

you can test for wormer resistance by treating then counting soon after though I have been told if you find resistance to iver/moxidectin get rid!

[/ QUOTE ]

Oops - I guess I didn't word my previous answer properly
blush.gif
- but that is what I meant. I didn't know that there is no known resistance to moxidectin - you learn something new everyday
smile.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

s'ok, common misinterpretation!

OP I use an easiwormer on one of ours, excellent after years she still hasn't worked it out and I tend to overdose a bit as some of it gets stuck on the bit bit
 
So am I and will be watching your post.I am going to worm count next week last time Tatty was less than 50.Then I need to look up which wormer to use what are you using?
 
I've worm counted for years now, poop icked daily - religously - and always got <50epg counts - until the newest came along. Hers was 550 a few weeks ago.up on her previous. She had been wormed with Panacur Equine Guard (5 day) but there is a lot of known resistence to it, so she was wormed this time with Equest. Hopefully the next count will be <50epg for all of them.
However, some equines can retain worms for unknown reasons. A count of 500 is nothing to worry about though.
 
I'm currently on a large yard, horses are in large fields in herds, the land is harrowed 2-3 times a year and we do get some turnaround in horses.

We are therefore a pretty high risk situation for worm burden.

The yard runs a targetted and intelligent worming scheme run by an external company, each horse has their own specific worming scheme which is a mixture of counts and different chemical wormers.

What you find is that any one time 90% of the horses will have a very low count/negative. You will have a small proportion of horses that always show a low-mid burden and another small proportion that are usually clear but every now and then show a burden. There isn't a lot of rhyme or reason to it - it is more to do with horse susceptability than anything else really.

FWIW I have had 2 horses on this scheme for a long time and they have both always come back negative and just had routine encysted/taeworm worming. The randomly one of mine came back with a count of 250 earlier this year, he was wormed accordingly and a recent recount he was clear again.
 
If you think that just a few mm on the syringe is for 100kg bodyweight, if you lose 'a bit' i is actually quite alot. You could get a worming bit? You put the syringe up through a hollow tube so it is easier to get it all in.
 
[ QUOTE ]
If you think that just a few mm on the syringe is for 100kg bodyweight, if you lose 'a bit' i is actually quite alot. You could get a worming bit? You put the syringe up through a hollow tube so it is easier to get it all in.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, I tend to give mine a generous dose for this reason, as although they are pretty good about it, invariably some ends up on their lips (or me
tongue.gif
)
 
Sorry to disagree ester but there IS known resistance to MOX - Marcelo Molento's group in Brazil reported on it last year, and as far back as 2005 the Donkey Sanctuary have had MOX resistance - feel free to PM me if you want details.

Sadly, due to large nematode populations, their fast reproduction cycles and ability to adapt, anthelmintic resistance is inevitable - but as long as you poo pick, worm when required (i.e. when egg counts are >200 EPG) and talk to your vet about what's best to do with YOUR animals (everyone is different!) it can hopefully be slowed down a bit!
 
Out of interest where is fly in the pecking order? We've been doing some research into this at college as it would appear that horses lower in the pecking order are more likely to eat the rank grass around the poo areas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top