Worm count, barefoot and worming advice please!

Randonneuse

Randonneuse

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Hello,

I know it has been done a lot recently but I can't find a thread with what I am after!

I had a worm count done for my horse for the first time in October 2010 by Westgate labs with a no eggs seen result.
They advised me to worm with Equest Pramox in November/December last year which I did.

This year I had a worm count done with Abbeys diagnostic (will go back to Westgate I think as they give really good advice!) at the beginning of April and again results came back with "No eggs seen in sample".

This is probably helped by the fact we poo pick the field everyday!

I haven't done any other worm count since but was thinking of worming now with Equest Pramox as tape and red encysted worms can't be seen in poo samples...

However...with what I read about Equest pramox lately I am not sure what to do? I honestly can't remember if Bilto was sensitive on his feet after being wormed last year but I would like to avoid it if I can as his feet are near to "rock crunching" at the moment and I don't want a wormer to affect it...

Anyway, what would you do?

Worm now or wait for next March/April and do a worm count again?

Home made chocolate chips cookies for you all :-)
 
I would never worm with pramox as I consider it too risky and I simply cannot see the point. It is very easy to split the worming between equitape (or similar) for the tapes and equest/eqvalan etc for the rest.

If I was worming now I would be looking at encysted which may be with equest. Before using that I would do a worm count. Whilst that will not show encysted it will give you a good idea of the current worm status.
If it was a very low count I would ask Westgate for their advice. I have recently been in the position of having my worm count back clear again. I have a closed herd and poo pick. Westgate advised me to consider the younger horses but that, in view of my results, it may be OK to consider leaving the older ones who have continuously clear counts.

If you have a higher count back you will know that equest may be needed. If, by any chance, you had a very high count then, I personally, would consider whether I wanted to use equest initially. (I had a horse colic with equest last year, he had a low count) so I am very careful.
 
Pramox made my mare incredibly footsore for nearly 3 months (I put fronts on for the duration), I will never use it again.
 
I use Strongid -P at double dose for tapes and everything else in Nov then Panacur Guard for encysted redworm in Jan/Feb. They dont stay in the system as long as Pramox. Having lost horses to EGS I wont use an ivermectin or moxidectin based wormer ever again.
 
I also used pramox nov 2010 and my horse got full blown lami!!!!

Never again. I did inform the shop I bought it from.
 
I had a problem about this time last year with the 5 day panacur, went from day 1, so slight wasn't sure if I imagined it to full on footy on day 5.
He did improve very quickly once I stopped it.
He had the one day panacur later on and went a bit off for a couple of days too.

He's OK with Invermectin and Pyratype/embotape.

At my current livery yard, their vets have advised a fairly aggressive worming policy but in the 4 and 1/2 years I've owned my horse, he has never had a postive worm count in all the yards and regimes he's been under so I'm not sure it's justified.

When worming comes around I negotiate, I haven't tried any of the long acting ones like Pramox since he's been barefoot and won't as if he is affected, he'll be sore for a long time.
 
I have been doing worm counts for the past eight years. I keep my two in their own field and in summer poo pick just about every day clearing the field. In winter it is cleared at the weekend until it gets too wet and muddy, normally about January and then the field is left but they have hay when out.

My routine is to worm with Equest at the end of December to remove encysted red worm. I then do a worm count mid April before they go onto the summer field. If necessary I worm, but have not needed to for many years.

I then do a worm count mid September and worm with a tape wormer such as Equitape or a combi if needed. I have used Paramox with no problems, but again not for several years.

I find I now need to worm twice a year and do two worm counts to keep my two worm free and healthy.

They do not wear shoes, and I personally have not noticed any problems with using Paramox but mine are young and healthy and I am very careful that I only use the correct amount for their weight. I would not use it on an older horse or one with any problems.
 
My older chap became very ill shortly after having Equest and his flu jab only a couple of days apart. It because a long running ME type illness that would flare up periodically over about 2 years.

As a result, he no longer has the flu jab and just has tet. My other horse who is of a sturdier constitution still has both jabs but I would never have it anywhere close to worming time.

Both horses are barefoot and I use worm counts for all worm checking except that they are wormed once a year for encysted redworm (early Dec as we are v northerly); I have used Equest with no problem for this despite the previous episode.

and they also have blood test by vet for tapeworm and if thats positive they are tapewormed with a specific tapewormer.Tapeworms dont show up reliably on a worm count so you either need to worm them with a wormer or get the blood test done, dont rely on a worm count. I dont worm for tapeworm as a matter of course as the blood test is available and I get it done as routine when they are having their winter MOT and six monthly teeth check by the vet

I would not touch Pramox as I think it really is too powerful for horses with any issues or those with a lot of worms and you may only find out that your horse came into one of these two categories when its too late.
 
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