I just got a horse and I have no idea when/if to deworm a horse. I just started leasing this horse at the end of april. How often/when do you deworm a horse? And do you recommend any dewormers?
I'll tell you what we do, but it's unlikely to be much help because your situation is different from ours.
The best procedure is herd and pasture management. Most horseowners are unable to accomplish it, but we seem to have done so. Based on our current herd situation, I would have to say that our plan works. We are Henneke Score five or six except one aged pony who is a four, have shiny coats even among the extremely aged ones, and have a ZERO foecal egg count! We have not dewormed our pastured stock in over a year.
We quarantine new stock, stall them for two weeks, and administer fenbendazole double-dose for five days. Then three or four days later we use ivermectin. The fenbendazole gets encysted strongyles that other wormers do not touch. The ivermectin gets nearly everything that the fenbendazole missed.
It is critical to use the correct dose, and never to feel tempted to cut back the dose. We use a weight tape to estimate the horse's weight.
The manure from the stalls goes into our manure pile that is not near the stable or pastures.
If we see any indications of worms, we will worm again, with our usual programme.
Our programme is not appropriate for stables where owners cannot follow strict rules. Stables with multiple owners are much harder to manage.
We also believe that in former years, before the horseless carriage, the standing stall was a good approach to worm management, because the horse ate at one end of the stall, and put manure at the other.
1) I de-worm my horses every 8 weeks. 2) I use Equimax every March and September. In between i use normal ivemectrin and pyrantal pamoate, rotating each de-worming. Generic brands of these work just as well as the expensive stuff. If I suspect a horse has a heavy worm load (long shaggy coat, thin, difficulty holding condition) I will de-worm with a Panacur Power Pac, which is a 5 day heavy dose wormer that will knock out any worms the horse may have. 3) I have fecals taken twice a year. Spring and fall at the same time we do vaccines. The general results are negative, but I will occassionally have a horse that I have recently acquired have some worms. Also, my yearlings occassionally will have some worms. Any horse with a positive fecal result is treated with a Power Pac. 4) I de-worm this way because I sell and show horses and require them all to have show-quality hair coats at all time. Also, having worms means I have to feed my horses more grain to keep weight on them, and the additional feed is far more expensive than an aggressive de-worming schedule.
Its very tempting to just deworm - but its actually quite irresponsible to do it too often due to anthelmintic resistance developing in worms (like antibiotic resistance but in worms). What you really should do is have a faecal egg count done and determine if it is necesary to deworm - you vet should be able to do this for you. By deworming too often it means only worms resistant to the dewormer survive in the gut, and make resistant worm babies!
Also there was a comment about rotating dewormers: if you rotate too often it means the worms become resistant to multiple dewormers all at the same time! What is better to do is to stick with one type until it starts to become less effective (the faecal egg count does not drop substantially after treatment), and then change dewormer family. This way the new drug will kill the old resistant worms.
Your vet will be able to help you draw up a deworming protocol that fits your circumstance.
If you are leasing the horse medications should be the responsibility of the owner. I worm my horse every 90 days and use different chemicals but I always use an Ivormectin base wormer.
You worm them every month to stay safe. I had a horse get a worm infestation and it was horrible. Every month is good. I just get whatever brand name is there, I like the ones that are flavored. You can go about it one of two ways, depending on how smart your horse is. First you twist the dial to their appropriate weight. Then you can either squirt it into their grain and mix it in. If the horse isn't too smart, it'll eat it. If it is, or just doesn't like grain as much, you'll have to go about it the harder but faster way. Have someone hold the horse for you and you open their mouths. Then you take the tube and shove it as far into their mouth as you can and squirt it all out and then pull your hand out and let them close their mouth. I know it sounds cruel but it isn't, they have a really long mouth and that's just so they can't spit it back out.
How Often to worm depends on the wormer. Some are once a moth while other are every 3 months. You will just have to read the package.
I would recommend putting it in the horses feed or if it will take it and not fight, give it to them in his/her mouth. Putting it in the feed it the easiest!
about every 3 months you should worm your horse and you should rotate what products you use on the horse. also you should watch for if the horses starts rubbing his tail or getting a big belly but losing weight from his ribs because these are signs that he probably has parasites and needs to be wormed
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I'll tell you what we do, but it's unlikely to be much help because your situation is different from ours.
The best procedure is herd and pasture management. Most horseowners are unable to accomplish it, but we seem to have done so. Based on our current herd situation, I would have to say that our plan works. We are Henneke Score five or six except one aged pony who is a four, have shiny coats even among the extremely aged ones, and have a ZERO foecal egg count! We have not dewormed our pastured stock in over a year.
We quarantine new stock, stall them for two weeks, and administer fenbendazole double-dose for five days. Then three or four days later we use ivermectin. The fenbendazole gets encysted strongyles that other wormers do not touch. The ivermectin gets nearly everything that the fenbendazole missed.
It is critical to use the correct dose, and never to feel tempted to cut back the dose. We use a weight tape to estimate the horse's weight.
The manure from the stalls goes into our manure pile that is not near the stable or pastures.
If we see any indications of worms, we will worm again, with our usual programme.
Our programme is not appropriate for stables where owners cannot follow strict rules. Stables with multiple owners are much harder to manage.
We also believe that in former years, before the horseless carriage, the standing stall was a good approach to worm management, because the horse ate at one end of the stall, and put manure at the other.
1) I de-worm my horses every 8 weeks. 2) I use Equimax every March and September. In between i use normal ivemectrin and pyrantal pamoate, rotating each de-worming. Generic brands of these work just as well as the expensive stuff. If I suspect a horse has a heavy worm load (long shaggy coat, thin, difficulty holding condition) I will de-worm with a Panacur Power Pac, which is a 5 day heavy dose wormer that will knock out any worms the horse may have. 3) I have fecals taken twice a year. Spring and fall at the same time we do vaccines. The general results are negative, but I will occassionally have a horse that I have recently acquired have some worms. Also, my yearlings occassionally will have some worms. Any horse with a positive fecal result is treated with a Power Pac. 4) I de-worm this way because I sell and show horses and require them all to have show-quality hair coats at all time. Also, having worms means I have to feed my horses more grain to keep weight on them, and the additional feed is far more expensive than an aggressive de-worming schedule.
Are you responsible for deworming a lease horse? Typically owner does this
Anyways - you rotate wormers (chemicals) every 8 or so weeks
Buy the product
Open horses mouth
Stick it in
Close mouth
Don't let them spit it out
Owner should give you deworming schedule and product list
Some horses are allergic to certain wormers, so I would ask the owner of the horse
Its very tempting to just deworm - but its actually quite irresponsible to do it too often due to anthelmintic resistance developing in worms (like antibiotic resistance but in worms). What you really should do is have a faecal egg count done and determine if it is necesary to deworm - you vet should be able to do this for you. By deworming too often it means only worms resistant to the dewormer survive in the gut, and make resistant worm babies!
Also there was a comment about rotating dewormers: if you rotate too often it means the worms become resistant to multiple dewormers all at the same time! What is better to do is to stick with one type until it starts to become less effective (the faecal egg count does not drop substantially after treatment), and then change dewormer family. This way the new drug will kill the old resistant worms.
Your vet will be able to help you draw up a deworming protocol that fits your circumstance.
If you are leasing the horse medications should be the responsibility of the owner. I worm my horse every 90 days and use different chemicals but I always use an Ivormectin base wormer.
You worm them every month to stay safe. I had a horse get a worm infestation and it was horrible. Every month is good. I just get whatever brand name is there, I like the ones that are flavored. You can go about it one of two ways, depending on how smart your horse is. First you twist the dial to their appropriate weight. Then you can either squirt it into their grain and mix it in. If the horse isn't too smart, it'll eat it. If it is, or just doesn't like grain as much, you'll have to go about it the harder but faster way. Have someone hold the horse for you and you open their mouths. Then you take the tube and shove it as far into their mouth as you can and squirt it all out and then pull your hand out and let them close their mouth. I know it sounds cruel but it isn't, they have a really long mouth and that's just so they can't spit it back out.
How Often to worm depends on the wormer. Some are once a moth while other are every 3 months. You will just have to read the package.
I would recommend putting it in the horses feed or if it will take it and not fight, give it to them in his/her mouth. Putting it in the feed it the easiest!
about every 3 months you should worm your horse and you should rotate what products you use on the horse. also you should watch for if the horses starts rubbing his tail or getting a big belly but losing weight from his ribs because these are signs that he probably has parasites and needs to be wormed
I deworm my horse every 2 months, and I do fecal exams from the vet. you can just do fecal exams, and the deworm him only if he needs it.