Worming/Worm counts

oscarwild

oscarwild

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At our yard we all do worm counts and worming in winter. Every worm count my mare needs wormed. This last count has been the highest at 1450 worms. Have been told to think about just worming her as she has never had a worm free count the the whole time I have had her.

Can anyone shed any light as to why she is a wormy horse and would you just worm her if she was yours or would you continue with counts?

Thanks for any help as the whole thing has has confused me a little. As I would like to understand why she is a wormy mare. haha
 
If she was mine then yes I would be worming her, this time of year which is for tapeworm, with something like Equest Pramox or Eqvalan Duo I think some horses are more prone to worms than others, for what reason Im not sure. She would then need worming again in the early new year for encysted redworm with Equest. After that in Spring with another product which covers tapeworm ( you need to worm for these in Spring and Autumn) I would then egg count through Summer until the Autumn.

Is where she lives poo picked? Tapeworm eggs can live on hay!!! With the mild wet winters worms are surviving well and becoming resistant to worming products, therefore once you have it under control then I would stick to the 3 times a year to cover the above nasties..

Theres lots of info on the internet, google worming horses. Westgate Labs are helpful as would be your Vet.
 
I would be having a chat with my vet. If the counts keep coming back high and you then worm and the next count is still high, it suggests that the wormers you are using are not doing their job.

Your vet should be able to advise on the best way to reduce the overall burden. Long term I wouldn't want my horse to have an ever increasing worm count.

As IzzWizz says some horses do have a higher burden than others. I think the quote is something like 20% of horses carrying 80% of the burden
 
Also meant to say too make sure you are dosing correctly, underdosing is worse than overdosing as the worms can become resistant to the products used.
 
She 13yrs old and 15.2 tb. Her health has been much better this year but she had high liver enzymes last year and has lots of allergies which play up all year round.
Yeah fields are poo picked and not neglected in the past that I am aware of. I had her for just coming on 2 years and her worm counts have ranged from 500 to 1450. They go up and down but were 800 last time and 1450 this time. She has been wormed with what my vet has advised every time cant remember names of wormers. Would need my diary from yard for that. lol.
I have just been confused by why she always needs wormed if that makes sense. We worm count the whole yard at same time and we only every need to worm 3-5 out of 25 horses. They all vary but my one needs wormed everytime.
 
Also forgot to mention that since last winter she has always been a bit on the lean side. Struggled to get weight on her and she looks the best she has for a year. But when she came she was like a butter ball and struggled to get weight off her.
 
She sounds well cared for and I understand your frustration. It would be interesting to know what wormers she has had. Unfortunately some horses are more prone to picking up a parasite burden but it may be that her immune system has been a bit challenged with the other things you mention. You need to know how and when she has been doses for encysted redworm. You need to know that she has had sufficient a dose for her size too as it is easy to under dose especially with those Equest tubes which only go up to 575 kg. Weight tapes will generally under estimate weights.
Another possible problem with a thinner Tb type is that Equest doesn't work so well. It needs the body fat to work properly.
Would you know she has worms if you weren't testing? Continuous dosing doesn't necessarily mean good worm control, but I can see it is frustrating for you.
 
Since she been ill she has been harder to keep weight on (but only just ever slightly ribby) But never anything to suggest that she needs wormed if that makes sense.

Her worming regime that I have is as follows Oct 2011 Vectin tablets (5 tabs), Dec 2011 Equest Pramox (full Syringe), April 2012 Exodus (Double doze), July 2012 Eraquell (600kg I think) Oct 2012 Vectin tablets (5 tabs) and would be Pramox again end Dec start of January I think.
 
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