Worming foals / yearlings

SEL

SEL

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For some reason I appear to be in charge of the worming programme at the yard I keep my horses on. Probably because there isn't one and I moan the loudest.

I'm going to be zapping 50 odd horses with Equest Pramox as soon as we get a decent few days of frosts, but we've got some babies on the yard this year and I'm out of my comfort zone with worming foals. Their owners should - obviously - be sorting it themselves, but it won't happen unless I nag. I have a better quality of nag if I know a little bit about the subject!

Foal 1 - will be 4 weeks old this week so I'm planning on worming mum right now. No idea when we should start worming the foal (it was a BOGOF from a little welsh mare who I doubt has been wormed in a while)

Foal 2 - born in May. Still with mum. I know the dam was regularly wormed before she came onto the yard in January and they have been kept in a separate paddock. The foal hasn't been wormed at all.

Yearling - about 14 months old. Moved onto the yard about 6 months ago and shared a barn at times with my big boy who he nicely passed his worm burden to. Turns out the youngster had never been wormed so we did him with the 5 day stuff in the summer and it was amazing how he gained weight when the wigglies weren't stealing all his grub. He had a rough start in life so is very small for his age.

Any input appreciated - thank you :)
 
We breed and have foals, yearlings and youngsters.
My comments would be-
Where youngsters are concerned make sure that all field companions are done at the same time.
We usually start worming at 6 weeks old and worm every couple of months til 1 year-alternating Equest and Pramox. At 1 year we did worm with the 5 day panacur as we had a bad case of pinworm.
After 1 year then youngsters go into the usual horse worming schedule.
So given the above, what I would do is;
Foal 1- I would wait a couple of weeks and then worm mum (pramox) and foal (equest)together- I would even be tempted to use pramox on the foal although we would usually just equest first time round but it is a late foal and it would probably be best to do mum and foal with the same wormer together. This is assuming they are seperate to any other horses-if they are in a bigger group then I would talk to a vet for advice- you do not want to have an unwormed foal in a field of otherwise worm free horses as foal will just be a worm magnet and not thrive- especially as around 4 weeks is when they really start to explore as regards grazing!
Foal 2- I would worm mum and foal (pramox).
Yearling-If wormed more than 6 weeks ago then re-worm with pramox.
Make sure your weight 'guesstimates' are slightly over and not underestimated.
Eg. Our foal (warmblood x TB) born May is 14hh 5ft 3" rug size and will be wormed at 300kg.
Our yearling 16.1hh (warmblood x TB) 6ft rug size will be wormed at 450kg
2 yr old welsh 12.2hh 4ft 6" rug size will be wormed at 250kg
 
All of my horses but particularly foals and yearlings have a five day Panacur course in the autumn. It is gentle on their system and it works; it's also incredibly easy to add to their feed. Nothing to stop you giving it to the yearling again now.
The very young foal will need to be wormed with something like a Panacur tube at 6 - 8 weeks but you need to take advice from your wormer supplier or your vet re dosage. It should then be wormed every two months with something like Strongid P or Panacur for the first 8 months and then change to something like Eqvalan (but nothing stronger until it is at least a year) I would be inclined to give Panacur Guard to the mare as well, gentle on her system while she is nursing.

If something hasn't been wormed for a long time then please don't use Pramox, it is far too harsh and could cause a lot of problems and never use it for youngsters under two at least. My vet is involved in clinical trials for most wormers and that's his advice btw. Also, be careful with older horses with it.

You can get a litre bottle of Guard which will be more economical from somewhere like Hyperdrug.http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Panacur-Liquid-10/Productinfo/PAN1L/1L/
 
Interesting.
I bought a 10 month foal with a huge worm burden, my vets are a vet school and I was given a sheet to worm monthly, two doses of ivermectin and not use Moxidectin until his condition score had improved. I think this is because its stored in body fat.
I have just bought in a six month foal with no worming history,and have wormed monthly after checking with the vet again with invermectin and he will be getting moxidectin as his next wormer when he is eight months.
I would give the Praziquantel , for tape worm separately so if there is a reaction to anything you know which one it is.
It doesn't help when the constituents of the product are not stated clearly on the packaging/or on websites.
 
Thanks everyone. That's really interesting. I know Equest Pramox is considered pretty tough stuff and I don't want to go dosing babies with it if their systems can't take it.

I'm trying to get the owner of the older foal to talk to the vet because I don't want us (me) to give it something that causes a problem. Luckily both foals and their mums are in separate paddocks right now so they can stay there until they've been dosed.

I know we've got a problem on the yard because the few liveries that do worm counts are seeing a big increase. We had a horse on the yard short term who ended up being PTS for worm damage (previous owners sadly) so I have a horrible suspicion that she's left behind some nasties in the paddocks.
 
The most important worm of foals is ascarids, roundworm. Red worm then come along second. The best wormer to treat roundworm is Panacur.

There is roundworm resistance to ivermectin so not the best choice, though useful later.

Moxidectin is a no no for young foals. You can't guess a foals weight very accurately to get the dose right and foals have little body fat to help the dose be effective.

Youngsters need more frequent dosing than adults, often much more than you realise. Do some testing to make sure you have control. Ring us at Westgate Labs for help 01670 791994

Very good advice from Maesfen above :)
 
Id be telling the lot of them to bog off and do their own. There is no telling, esp with one that has never been wormed, what the reaction would be. And then you would be liable.

I have wormed my 4 month old three times, once with strongidp, once with panacur and once with noromectin. I would not use anything strong (as in moxidectin or praziquentil - ie equest) on miniatures anyway, but especially a foal one.
 
SEL said:
For some reason I appear to be in charge of the worming programme at the yard I keep my horses on. Probably because there isn't one and I moan the loudest.

I'm going to be zapping 50 odd horses with Equest Pramox as soon as we get a decent few days of frosts,
Any input appreciated - thank you :)
Click to expand...

are you going to be worm counting them before zapping them? Pramox is a very strong wormer. If you search on here you will find a thread with a lot of colic problems. If you are in charge of the worming program presumably with no qualifications then if one of the horses gets ill, or worse, will you be liable if you insist on pramox?
 
I was told not to use Equest on anything under a year old.

I do worm counts and use either Panacur Guard or Equest once a year on the adult horses.

When I had foals I started worming them at six weeks with Eqvalan.
 
paddy555 said:
are you going to be worm counting them before zapping them? Pramox is a very strong wormer. If you search on here you will find a thread with a lot of colic problems. If you are in charge of the worming program presumably with no qualifications then if one of the horses gets ill, or worse, will you be liable if you insist on pramox?
Click to expand...

The liveries have to give the yard a disclaimer saying they are happy for the product to be used on their horse and they are advised to worm count first. Most of them couldn't give a **** about worming their horses to be honest! We did 40 odd with Equest Pramox last year across a broad spectrum of horses and ponies and only 1 had a slight reaction - she got very hot & sweaty. A dose of Protexin and she was fine 24 hours later. The owner of the riding school would give each & every pony an entire tube if he had his way (& one tube does 700kg from memory) so I manage him by telling him it is cheaper to weigh the horses and dose by weight.

The babies worry me more because I've never had foals to look after, but luckily I now have the vets on board to support.

It is by far and away the worst yard I've ever been on with regards worming programmes. I agree colic is a risk if something has a high worm burden but there isn't a chance of getting the riding school to pay for worm counts as well as a £20 wormer so I just keep my fingers crossed that most of their horses are old enough to have built up some form of immunity by now.
 
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