Worm Control in our Horses
As a practice we’ve been recommending a more pro-active approach to worming for several years and we have now created an administered ‘Worming Scheme’. This way, we can make sure all of our clients have access to the most up to date information and make sure we are pro-actively involved in this very important area of management and health for all the horses and ponies under our care.
It is always good to understand why we are controlling worms in our horses, and that it requires more input than simply using doses of wormer at routine intervals. We work on the principle that horses are supposed to have a few worms, but that our role is to control this burden and importantly minimise the risk of any worm related disease. In addition we should try and reduce the development of resistance to the active ingredients in wormers to make sure we can treat our horses effectively when we need to.
This is based around:
- Managing the pasture and worm challenge
- Testing the worm burden of your horses
- Planning to dose or test at the right time
- Dosing appropriately with the correct active ingredient when required
There may be variations for individual horses and yards, especially with younger horses and studs, however the basic foundation and principles will remain.
To try and make this work for everyone, our Worming Scheme follows this approach, hopefully with the emphasis being on ease of understanding and convenience for our clients.
The main points to the scheme are:
- An initial assessment of levels of risk for you horses, of course including all relevant history from our clinical records. Feedback will be given where necessary and any advice on wormers as needed.
- Over the grazing season, we will send out or drop off faecal worm egg count sample kits to you as indicated, which you can return by post or even better drop them off at the surgery.
- We will analyse the faecal samples, report the results and give you advice on whether a wormer is required and which one is appropriate.
- In the autumn we will send you a Moxidectin/Praziquantel based wormer at the appropriate time to treat your horses.
- All results will be kept and reviewed regularly to see if any changes are needed to management or treatment regimes.
The cost of the scheme is £46.20 per year, paid in two six monthly instalments of £23.10.
The price includes all the egg counts required (typically around four per year), a year end dose for encysted small redworm/tapeworm for each horse signed up, and of course all the advice and ongoing support you could hope for and expect!
Any additional wormer treatments that are needed during the year will be recommended and we will supply wormers from the practice unless clients choose to source them elsewhere. Our wormers are priced very competitively and compare very favourably against the internet sites so do check our prices if you usually use another outlet. We may be able to offer a further reduced price if you are buying a large number of wormers, so please ask at the time.
Please contact us at the surgery for more information and full terms and conditions. The easiest way is to email us at equine@bishoptonequinevets.co.uk or call the surgery on 01765 602396. We hope that this will be the most straightforward and effective option for many of you – taking the worry out of worming!