Sharing a paddock with a young horse that has worms

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I've moved to a new yard where all horses are kept in their own paddock. Stool samples were sent off recently and all horses, including mine were clear (except one horse whose owner saw worms in the poo so didnt have stool samples done.)

The owner of said horse (a 4 year old mare) has suggested I share her paddock with her youngster (the one that had worms) and her shetland. Im keen to do this as she has more grazing and it would be nice for my horse to have company rather than having to just look at each other over the fence.

BUT Im worried about the horse with worms - is it silly to share a paddock with her horses (even though the older shetland doesn't have any worms). The owner says that it is because her young horse hasn't built up immunity yet.

I know very little about young horses and worm immunity and really don't know what to do. Should I move to her paddock or stay put and avoid the risk of my horse getting worms?

(Oh and Ive asked her what worms they were and she hasn't replied, which worries me a bit)
 

Red-1

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Is she worming and then taking another sample? If so, I would base my decision on the result of the worm count.

Young horses do seem more liable to high worm burdens, and it is also true that other horses may not also have high burdens even when sharing the paddock. What was the count like for the Shetland?

Does she poo pick well? If she did, then the worm burden would not likely be high. I have a 4yo, returned zero counts as I wormed on purchase and poo pick twice a day.

Until I was sure that she had wormed and re-counted, and poo picks regularly, then I would ot be choosing to share the paddock.
 

Polos Mum

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Has the owner treated the worms?
If she is happy to let a youngster stay riddled with worms to see if the poor thing can somehow get rid of them on its own - I wouldn't go within 100 miles of her. Who knows what other crazy ideas she might have to apply to all horses in her field.
My neighbour had an expensive colic call out bill recently because a 'horsey friend' decided to put 30 apples in her horses stable as a tread !!!!!!!!!

They do pick up worms from each other (although I have had an odd mix of counts from horses in the same herd) - just because you can't see worms in the shetlands poo, does not mean he doesn't have them.
 

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Thank you for the replies - the shetland in the same paddock had no worm eggs in the stool sample (all horses were showing no eggs in the lab results).

The owner of the youngster poo picks daily and has treated for the worms so perhaps I should say Ill move my horse in once her youngster's poo has been tested by the lab to be safe?
 

mandyroberts

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Thank you for the replies - the shetland in the same paddock had no worm eggs in the stool sample (all horses were showing no eggs in the lab results).

The owner of the youngster poo picks daily and has treated for the worms so perhaps I should say Ill move my horse in once her youngster's poo has been tested by the lab to be safe?
Good plan - I agreed with Red-1. My youngster had worms (I wormed and did worm counts on arrival and all was fine). My other horses were fine and the vet said that young horses have less resistance. I now worm count 3 monthly and act accordingly but the last 2 counts were clear. We worm count 6 monthly anyway
 

silv

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Thank you for the replies - the shetland in the same paddock had no worm eggs in the stool sample (all horses were showing no eggs in the lab results).

The owner of the youngster poo picks daily and has treated for the worms so perhaps I should say Ill move my horse in once her youngster's poo has been tested by the lab to be safe?

I think that is a very sensible idea.
 
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