tapeworm (also in stable yard)

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Vicki1986

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Blood test has just come back on my mare, medium infestation.
Funnily enough paddock clearance/maintenance is something i'm not happy about at my yard, but still i am a bit surprised that she has a 'medium' infestation.

what does this actually mean? i know obviously high is the worst. I would have thought i'd known - she is in excellent condition and extremely fit and healthy (the far right pic in pink on my signature is very recent!)

I feel an absolute failure as a caring owner, I pay for field clearance, and a vet advised worming programme at my full livery yard, and as she's healthy had no reason to think anything was amiss. Her worm count came back clear.

I'm confused as to what has gone wrong ( i cant talk to vet whilst at work) is it ineffective worming or the lack of paddock clearance lately that is to blame? the field isn't 'that' bad but its certainly not clear. horses in the other (bigger) fields have come back clear so our yard programme cant be to blame to is it just down the paddock clearance?
sorry feel like im asking what are probably very obvious questions but i've read up and i still have questions.

what would be advisable to do now? we wormed for tapeworm about 2 weeks ago so the vet said do them in another 3 months i think. they moved onto a new field this week, should i keep her in til its cleared?
 
Horses can and do get unexpectedly high worm counts/tapeworm results despite good field management and regular worming. There is often no reason as to why. Just worm well and re-check at an appropriate time, and don't blame yourself!!
 
what i do is worm with a combo wormer in spring and autum so it clears everything and poo pick all the rest of the time at 12 week intevials. poo pick every day as well!
 
Was the blood test taken before or after you wormed for tapeworm?

If before, then there's a good chance your wormer will have done what is required of it and cleared the tapeworm.

If the blood test was taken afterwards, then the wormer may still have cleared the tapeworm, but the blood test could still come back positive as it is measuring tapeworm antibody, which isn't going to disappear overnight.

I know how you feel, my horse came back with a positive blood test despite being on the yard worming programme and everything kicked off at our yard, it was like my horse had leprosy. I would definitely get your vet's advice on the way forward.
 
With the advent of Ivermectin based wormers killing other parasites well it gave tapeworm a chance to take a hold - it's happening world wide!

Worm with a wormer that contains Praziquantal which will kill the tapeworm.
 
equi tape is the best if you dont want to use a combo wormer. i dont rate strogid p it only does 2 types of tapeworm!
 
we wormed with equimax a week after blood tests were taken.

our field is harrowed (it hasn't been done for a long time) do you think this is not helping?, in my mind poo picking is better surely.

I rang the vet and am waiting them to call me back as i want to check the advice given (which was clear field and rest for 4 months, and worm again in 3 months) i want clarification as to whether harrowing is adequate as this is what yard is planning on doing.
 
If you have wormed with Equimax then you have probably cleared the tapeworm as it contains praziquantel. The thing is even if you had another blood test done now, it may not come back clear as your horse will still have tapeworm antibody from the prior infection.

That really is the problem with tapeworm, it's hard to be sure of the horses infection status at a specific time, unless you see segments in the droppings or the horse looks poor, bloated or colicky, but if you have used Equimax then it should have dealt with it. Something to bear in mind though is that if a wormer has had to clear a heavy worm burden, it doesn't continue to protect for as long so you may need to worm again sooner (advice given to me by intelligent wormng). To be on the safe side you could consider using Pramox in the summer, which is a combination wormer with different ingredients to Equimax, but to be honest unless all the other horses are using the same product at the same time there will be cross-infection.

Admittedly poo picking is the gold standard, but like you, our yard only harrows and rests fields, as they are so big.
 
poo pick is better than anything. if you are un sure about his tape worms worm in again in 10 weeks with equi tape!
 
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