Worm control at yard without worm control?

[Spyda]

I'm at a large DIY livery yard where there is no policy on worm control. All the horses have 24/7/365 turnout in ~2 acre paddocks shared with one or two other horses. The horses are occasionally moved to different paddocks, according to space and which fields the YO wants to use at certain times, but no one ever pooh picks and there's no united worming schedule.

There's no possibility of pooh picking or a set worming schedule being implemented. Long story - just take my word for it - there just isn't.

My last worm count came back with a medium result, despite me having wormed my horse carefully from birth.

I don't know why I'm posting this really, since I guess there's nothing anyone can do. I worm her on day one and by day two she's back out picking up worms again. Ho hum... it's most frustrating.

 

[Nailed]

Nowt you can do except move really. So it depends on weather your willing to move or not.. But if my horse came back with that result even though they have been wrmed correctly.. I would be moving.

Lou x

 

[clairec1154]

It might be worth phoning intelligent worming, as they will take all the above in consideration and develop a worming plan for you. It could be that your horse has developed a resistance to a certain wormer?

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Im afraid I would be moving if this policy or lack of has been going on for years and years, the place must be loaded with worms. To continue fighting with wormers when nothing is being done might just increase resistance although you could try moving to am wormer with a different (and hopefully not resistant) active ingredient). Not just a different brand, need to be different basic ingredient,

But for horses sake I wouldnt stay there long term, its a basic failure of horse health care they are doing if as described.

 

[MochaDun]

I'm in a similar situation and considering the intelligent worming route. Had an initial response from them with my concerns about whether or not it can help when there is no overall worming policy on a yard and I got the impression that it might still be worth doing - I quote: "works for any horse in any environment, regardless of what the owners of other horses do or do not do. We have numerous customers who are in exactly the same situation as you and are finding IW is working well for them".

I'm still undecided as to what to do at the moment. When did how to worm and what's the best way to worm your horse get SO complicated!

 

[diggerbez]

having alwas been on yards that worm regularly was a bit worried when i moved to one that didn't. however, have persuaded the YO to do regular worm counts and then those who need to are made to worm and its up to the others to decide for themselves. it seems to be working- on the first count V had a high count (he'd never been done when i bought him) but then next time a very low count and my TB has been negative both times. i'm worried about the resistance they build up to wormers and so haven't wormed the TB as he's been negative. i think people are happy with this because they don't feel like they are forking out money for no reasons....

 

[Shysmum]

I have just handed my notice in (today - eeeeeeeeeeeeeek) at my yard, one of my main issues is the lack of worming by anyone but me.

Having persuaded one girl to finally worm her two year old for the first time (under vet instructions that I got on her behalf *sigh*), the worms that came out were unbelieveable. Took said worms into the vet, he said filly is lucky to be alive.

Has she wormed since ? One guess.

Why do these idiots have horses ?

sm x

 

[fatpiggy]

Move! Nothing is going to change with liveries who are that stupid/ignorant/penny pinching and the YO is obviously a waste of space too.

 

[Gillb]

Shysmum that is so sad. The poor horse. Do folk not realise that they could lose their horse for lack of spending a very modest amount? I bet same people have all the latest pink and purple numnahs and matching grooming kits!

Good for you putting your horses welfare first.

Using a worm count programme soon tells you how many wormers are needed. It can be as low as one per year. Try this page for more info if you are thinking of a targeted programme:
http://www.westgatelabs.co.uk/info-zone/costs.htm

 

[ester]

firstly clairec it isnt the horse that develops resistance to the wormer it is the worms, and this is atm very unlikely, even more so on a yard which doesnt use wormer

I wouldnt actually be that worried, it would probably make me more inclined to worm than to rely on counts knowing that exposure is likely to be greater and what I think are the inherrent inaccuracies in worm counting, but say you put your horse on a program and treat at the appropriate intervals it is always the case that the burden will increase between wormings. We dont worm to eliminate we worm to keep to manageable/no pathology levels, so if you treat regularly you should not be getting the levels of burden that will be a problem

I still feel a bit sorry for the worms though

Most older horses (that arent compromised in anyway) will naturally have a low worm burden, it is normally only 1 or 2 in a herd that have a high burden and hence contribute to the contamination of the pasture much more than the rest.

From a resistance point of view it would actually be an excellent strategy to have one 'sacrificial' horse on each pasture that was never wormed in order to maintain a mixed population (because the proportion of resistance in a population increases because we worm..... turn onto clean pasture (bad idea) then if there is resistance ALL of the worms on that pasture are resistant to the drug you just used and proliferate)

That would of course be unacceptable from a horse welfare point of view though ;p