Worming
Worm control and your horse’s health
Internal parasites (worms) can cause significant and often irreversible damage to your horse’s digestive system and other organs. They can cause poor condition, respiratory problems, colic, and in severe cases, even death.
To protect your horse and maintain their long-term health, it is vital to adopt a diagnostic-led, risk-based worming strategy. This approach helps avoid unnecessary treatments and slows the development of resistance to worming products – a growing concern as no new wormers are currently in development so we need to protect the products we have. There is also concern about the toxic effects that wormers can have on the environment, another good reason to limit their use to only when necessary.
Responsible worming: What you can do
We strongly recommend worming your horse only when necessary, based on diagnostics such as:
- Faecal Worm Egg Counts (FWEC)
- Tapeworm saliva tests
- Worm risk assessments
- Good pasture management practices
It is important to understand that we are not trying to eliminate all worms. Your horse can have a small worm burden and still be healthy. A small worm burden can help reduce the risk of resistance. The goal is to keep worm levels low enough to prevent disease without overusing wormers.
Every horse is different – even those grazing in the same paddock require individual worming plans, as factors like age, immunity, and susceptibility to parasites vary between horses.
Accurate dosing based on the weight of your horse is essential. This is because under-dosing contributes to resistance, while over-dosing offers no added benefit.
The Horse Health Programme makes worming control easy!
Our Horse Health Programme offers a comprehensive solution for diagnostic-led worm control, including:
- Four faecal worm egg counts per year
- A tapeworm saliva test
- A Worm Risk Assessment
- A winter wormer (if indicated by test results)
This package provides everything needed for effective and responsible worm management.
Reducing worm burden through pasture management
Good pasture practices can significantly lower your horse’s risk of picking up worms.
We recommend the following:
- Pick up droppings regularly – ideally daily, but at least twice a week
- Do not use horse manure as fertiliser on grazing land used by horses
- Do not harrow pastures as it can spread parasites
- Prevent overgrazing – aim for a minimum of 2 acres per horse
- Group horses by age as younger horses are more vulnerable to worms
- Rest pastures for at least 6 months, where possible
- Graze cattle or sheep on horse pastures – this helps disrupt the lifecycle of equine parasites
Expert advice and affordable testing
Our vets are always happy to offer free advice on worming plans tailored to your horse’s specific needs.
We also offer:
- Faecal worm egg counts
- Faecal egg count reduction tests
- Tapeworm saliva tests
- Worm risk assessments
- Small redworm blood tests
- A full range of competitively priced wormers
Contact us to find out more or for help creating a worming schedule that protects both your horse and the effectiveness of future worming treatments.
